Arc 1, Part 1: Dodging Discord’s Disorderly Delight

“Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing!” Discord decided.

“Not as wonderful as friendship,” Twilight interrupted, stepping up proudly with her necklace-bearing friends.

“Oh, this again?” Discord sighed.

“That’s right!” Applejack confirmed with a defiant glare. “You couldn’t break apart our friendship for long.”

“Oh, Applejack, don’t lie to me,” Discord admonished, dragging her up by the Element of Honesty. “I’m the one that made you a liar.” He dragged all the others sans Twilight up to join her and taunted, “Will you ever learn?”

Twilight glared and teleported to the chaos god, encasing her friends in a bubble of magic that drifted down to the ground before popping.

“I’ll tell you what we’ve learned, Discord,” she challenged. “We’ve learned that friendship isn’t always easy, but there’s no doubt it’s worth fighting for.”

“Gag,” Discord groaned. “Fine, go ahead, try and use your little Elements, frenemies,” he mocked. “Just make it quick. I’m missing some excellent chaos here,” he complained, teleporting to his throne.

“Alright, ladies! Let’s show him what friendship can do!” Twilight declared.

“Waitwaitwait!” Pinkie called, taking a last drink of chocolate milk rain. “Okay, ready now!”

The Elements of Harmony began to glow and fire bullets in their shapes. Discord’s eyes widened and he considered. “So, you’ve managed to throw off my control enough to use the Elements, eh? Well, that’s certainly an achievement. But let’s see if you’re strong enough to fight me,” he muttered, snickering. A rainbow formed around them, and Discord prepared a blast of pure chaos magic and threw it to meet the rainbow’s light. He narrowed his eyes as the two struggled, but eventually chaos began winning. Twilight’s eyes widened as she realized what was going on and she reached for her nearest friend, Applejack, in a moment of desperation. Applejack returned the touch and extended a hoof to Pinkie, who continued the chain to Rainbow Dash, who furthered it to Fluttershy, who reached for Rarity, who completed the chain with Twilight. It was comforting, and that moment of peace stabilized the Elements’ rainbow. The two forces wrestled for a moment, and whenever Discord tried to sneak in an undercut, the Elements countered. Eventually, the air began to spark and shimmer, until suddenly an explosion knocked everyone present back.

Light poured from a focused area, hurting Twilight’s eyes. She raised a hoof in front of her eyes until it faded to reveal a very odd creature in a blue and purple striped shirt with no hair except for a small brown clump on top of its head. It looked around, clearly panicking, and stood up on two shaky legs. Twilight cautiously approached it but was beaten to the punch by a concerned Fluttershy, who darted to its side and began attempting to mother the creature. It gave a weak smile and murmured something in Fluttershy’s ear before looking around the chaos-ridden landscape. It noticed Discord and gave a noise that sounded like a snicker. Discord, for his part, was very confused at what had just transpired. Fluttershy beckoned the creature over to Twilight and the other ponies.

“Everypony, this is Frisk. Frisk, these are my friends,” Fluttershy introduced.

“Nice to meet you,” Frisk said with a nod.

Twilight bit her tongue to keep her questions in check. There’d be time for learning about this strange creature later... well, assuming Discord didn’t take over.

“Well, Frisk, y’all wouldn’t know how ta defeat a chaos god, would ya?” Applejack asked hopefully as Discord began recovering.

“I assume you’re talking about the weird amalgamation of animal parts back there?” Frisk asked. Applejack nodded. “Huh... well, I think I’ve dealt with worse before, since this guy isn’t going to give me mental scarring based on appearance alone,” they muttered with a shudder. “Uh... I mean, I can try to talk him down... or flirt him into submission if that doesn’t work,” they added with a mischievous smirk.

Rainbow recoiled. “Flirt?” she muttered disgustedly.

“Of course, gorgeous,” Frisk chuckled with a wink to Rainbow’s visible dismay. Rarity snickered. “Guess I’ve got a chaos god to fight. Oh, man, Undyne is gonna flip out when I tell her about this!” Frisk realized with an expression of awe. They reached down to touch their side before pulling out a thin gray rectangle with a few buttons on the sides. Frisk pressed one and one side lit up in an image of Frisk with various other figures of species Twilight didn’t recognise, though she vaguely placed one as some variation of a white minotaur wearing a crown and a pink sweater. Twilight had to hold her breath to keep from asking ten trillion questions, but she mentally noted a few of the more important ones to ask later...

Frisk rolled their eyes and walked over to the so-called chaos god, snapping a picture and then pulling the Worn Dagger and the Heart Locket out of their phone’s inventory to equip them. They really didn’t want to attack if they didn’t have to– memories of their fight with Asgore before Omega Flowey still kept them up at night sometimes– but they wanted to be ready just in case. A SAVE point greeted them at the bottom of the hill the chaos god was planted atop. They gratefully took the opportunity to heal and keep a fallback to test different paths if they couldn’t reason their way out on the first try.

"So the heroines send a child to battle," Discord guffawed. "How delightful!"

Frisk put on an unimpressed expression. Their battle menu popped up.

ACT: COMPLIMENT

"Well, gotta say you at least look the part of a chaos god. This whole anti-normality aesthetic is your doing, I assume?" Frisk asked.

"Naturally!" Discord proclaimed. "You know, I don't believe you and I have been acquainted. I am Discord, Lord of Chaos!" he added, sending some flying pigs and other oddities out for dramatic effect.

ACT: TALK

"Frisk. Just, uh, just Frisk. Um... Well, I was gonna ask if maybe you could... move the chaos to somewhere it won't bother anyone? The ponies over there don't seem to like it and I kind of doubt they're in the minority since this is probably recent," Frisk explained.

"I suppose I could do that..." Discord pondered for a moment. "Oh, but it's so incredibly boring without anyone to share the chaos with! But... why don't we play a little game?"

ACT: TALK

"Well, how would we play if I were to agree?" Frisk carefully phrased.

"I know a few things about your home. It's a simple numbers game. If your HP drops to 0 before my turn ends, you lose! If it doesn't, you win, and I'll stop with the chaos near any living being!" Discord promised.

ACT: QUESTION

"When will your turn end?" Frisk asked, picking up on the potential loophole. Sans had lawyered his way out of too many things for them to not have learned already.

"Clever, I'll give you that," Discord admitted. "How about... ten minutes?"

ACT: TALK

"Ten minutes with one break to let me heal halfway through," Frisk stipulated.

"Fair enough," Discord decided.

ACT: AGREE

*You wonder briefly if this might be a bad idea.

"Well, Discord, I agree to your rules," Frisk decided. "If you win, well, I'll be dead, so I'm not really gonna be able to do anything. If I win, you'll get rid of the chaos here and not use chaos near anybody who would bear negative feelings toward it." They heard a worried gasp from the ponies behind them.

Discord offered a handshake to seal the terms. "Let's play."

What followed was only the fourth most grueling battle Frisk had faced, behind Asgore, Asriel, and Omega Flowey.

Now that Frisk thought about it, the Dreemurrs were really hard as far as dodging their attacks. They supposed the gauntlet of spears through Waterfall before they fought Undyne was tougher to dodge but it wasn't really part of their actual fight with her.

Discord's attacks weren't terribly hard to dodge, but Frisk never let their guard down. They ducked and weaved through all manner of wacky magic and weird creatures. They were slightly grateful for the half-time break they'd stipulated, using the moment to greedily gulp down a Starfait, maxing out their HP. Fluttershy was hyperventilating at a safe distance and Applejack was very obviously having a hard time not charging in.

After the rest period was done, it was back to dodging. Discord was clearly worried now, throwing his attacks a lot more quickly and sporadically to try to catch Frisk off guard. Frisk had only ten seconds left when Discord pulled out the biggest, most powerful attack yet and hurled it at the glowing heart encased in their body. Frisk smirked and decided to finish it off strong. They raised the dagger and slashed the magic away in a spin that ended in a pose. The time was up before Discord could recover and the ponies ran up and cheered for the hero.

"YOU WERE AMAZING!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "TAKE THAT, DISCORD!"

"More like Miss-cord," Frisk ad-libbed cheekily.

Pinkie Pie burst into laughter.

Discord frowned and sighed. "Very well. I suppose we had a deal," he muttered. He snapped the fingers of his paw and the chaos capital returned to its normal state. "If I am allowed no other virtues, I do follow my agreements."

"Don't feel too bad," Frisk smiled. "I had a lot of fun! How about a picture?" they offered, holding up their phone. "Can't leave without something to remember this by."

"Oh! Well, I suppose..." Discord shrugged. Frisk held up the phone for a selfie and Discord posed, snapping a pair of sunglasses on. Frisk got an idea and used the face-swapping filter and the results left them both howling in laughter.

"Maybe come by sometime?" Frisk asked after they recovered. "My friend Sans would love to meet you. He's a pretty... humerus guy."

Discord snickered before snapping off to some corner of the world. Suddenly, a brilliant light streamed as Celestia and Luna came in by pegasus chariot. Frisk gasped softly when they saw Luna. Even the Elements were surprised, as Luna’s coat had darkened to a rich navy since their last meeting, and her mane shared Celestia’s flowing quality, except rather than a morning sunrise, it was the night sky streaming from Luna’s head. Twilight thought the change fitting. Luna’s cyan eyes never strayed from Frisk once she noticed them.

“Princesses, this is Frisk,” Fluttershy introduced after a period of awkward silence. “They just saved Ponyville from Discord,” she added. “Frisk, this is Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They rule Equestria.”

“Oh!” Frisk allowed a startled look for only a moment before bowing their head.

“Well, if thou triumphed over the likes of Discord, thou need not–” Luna was interrupted by Celestia’s gentle prodding. “Yes, Celestia?”

“Luna, it’s, um, ‘you,’ not ‘thou,’” Celestia explained. “We’ve been over this multiple times.”

“Oh. Well, at least We– er, I hath– I mean, have– made progress past the point of the Royal Canterlot voice,” Luna reasoned. “Ahem, as I was saying, if you triumphed over the likes of Discord, you need not bow to my sister and I. How powerful must you be?”

“Not that powerful?” Frisk shrugged. “I’m just good at dodging and sealing metaphorical loopholes. Also I’m a master of flirting and cheesy pickup lines but those two are irrelevant to this particular situation.”

“Sister, what is a ‘pickup line’?” Luna whispered.

“Um... it’s a sentence or phrase usually used to obtain a special somepony,” Celestia whispered back. “Often involving puns of some kind.” Frisk giggled. “In any case, as Luna said, there’s no need to bow,” Celestia promised, addressing Frisk. “Though... what, ah, well, what are you?”

“I’m a human,” Frisk shrugged. They could almost hear the gears screeching in Twilight’s head. “Problem with that?”

“Well, not necessarily a problem, just that humans are entirely MYTHICAL CREATURES OH MY GOSH THIS IS–” Twilight was cut off when Fluttershy stuck a hoof in her mouth.

“Thank you,” Frisk whimpered, releasing their hands from their ears.

“If you’re not very powerful, how did you...” Celestia trailed off.

“Made a deal with him. He threw ten minutes worth of attacks at me, and if I was still alive at the end of it, then he’d leave and keep his chaos away from anyone who wouldn’t like it,” Frisk explained.

Celestia blinked. “So... you’re alive, and that means... Discord is free?”

“Is... there a problem with him being out and about if he’s not gonna bother anyone?” Frisk asked.

Celestia replied with only an uncomfortable look.

“My point stands, then,” Frisk decided. “Um, but, if it isn’t too much trouble, could I get a picture with you all? I’ve got some friends... well, one in particular, who’d absolutely love to see them once I get home.”

“I guess?” Twilight shrugged. “You gonna use that gray rectangle that made you and Discord laugh a bunch?”

“I take it you don’t have cell phones?” Frisk chuckled as they gestured for the ponies to get into position. “Okay, three, two, one, snap!”

They smiled and slipped the cell phone into their pocket. “You know... Now that I think about it, how am I gonna get home?” they asked suddenly.

“Uh... not... sure... maybe we should have thought of this earlier,” Twilight commented, glancing at the princesses.

“Like before I got pulled here by whatever magic shenanigans were going on with Discord?” Frisk quipped dryly.

“Well, I’m sure Twilight wouldn’t mind you staying with her in exchange for answering a few questions, would she?” Celestia smiled wryly, glancing at her student.

“Oh, I’ve practically been able to hear her choking on the questions she wants to ask me,” Frisk grinned. Twilight blushed fiercely in her embarrassment, only extending Frisk’s grin and drawing chuckles from her friends.

Twilight levitated the Elements away from her friends. “Princess, what do we do with these?” she asked Celestia.

“Luna and I will take them back to Canterlot,” Celestia replied. Frisk let out a snicker. “Hm?”

“Okay, how many of your city or town names are... equine puns?” they asked.

“...Yes,” Celestia eventually sighed. Luna grinned.

“And who named them?” she teased.

“Me...” Celestia groaned.

“At least you’re better at naming than my dad,” Frisk quipped. “There’s this underground magma chamber back home that he named... Hotland. And at one point they moved the capital, and he named the place he was going to live New Home.”

Celestia chuckled. “Well, I certainly am better than that,” she decided.

“Okay! Questions! Let’s go!” Twilight gasped, throwing Frisk onto her back and galloping to the Golden Oak Library.

Frisk’s face nearly burst with a startled expression. They only managed to get out a confused “What–” before Twilight slammed the door to the library shut behind them. The others burst into laughter and the princesses began the trip back to Canterlot.

Arc 1, Interlude 1: Twilight Sparkle's Preliminary Report on Frisk Dreemurr

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Name: Frisk Dreemurr

Age: 13

Gender: Identifies as “nonbinary,” uses they/them pronouns

Race: Human

Height: 4½ hooves, or “feet,” as they call the unit

Home: Claims to be from a planet called Earth. Potential error in translation.

Family: Claims to be the adopted child of the king and queen of their world’s monsters. Insists that these monsters aren’t anything like Equestrian monsters.

Appearance: Slightly yellow hairless skin with straight brown hair roughly where their mane would be if they were a pony. Brown eyes. They always wear a blue and purple striped shirt and a blue article of clothing they call “pants.”

Personality: Seems to be empathetic and cheerful and hates fighting. Further interaction is required.

Known Abilities: Almost supernatural dodging skill. Masterful flirting. Wields an object they call a “cell phone,” which apparently grants them the ability to take and store photographs, contact their friends or family in certain circumstances, and store healing foods and equipment, among other presently unknown uses.

Conclusion: Frisk is no danger to Equestria and is likely to be a good ally should the need ever arise, though their abilities do require further observation.

Arc 1, Interlude 2: Confirmation (Alternatively, "Look, I'm Okay!")

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“What do you mean, gone?” Toriel cried.

“I mean they just... disappeared!” Undyne explained. “We were playing soccer together, and one second they were there and the next... they’d vanished.”

“Did... did you check with Sans? I know he’s got his teleportation shortcut things, maybe...” Asgore trailed off.

Undyne shook her head. “I was looking at Frisk when they disappeared. Unless he both lied to me and can use them in the time it takes me to blink, he wasn’t involved,” she sighed. “Damn it... I hope the kid’s okay. I tried calling them and texting them but... never got a response. Maybe Alphys’ll have some ideas... I’ll go check in with her.”

“Please... Anything you c-can do,” Toriel sobbed, clinging to a wavering Asgore.

Undyne gave one nod before racing down the street to Alphys’s house. She barely checked to make sure the door was unlocked before throwing it open. "Alph, we've got a missing human!"

"What happened?" a startled Alphys asked.

Undyne explained what she knew before asking, "So... you got any ideas on how to find Frisk?"

Alphys thought a moment before suggesting, “Maybe if we went back to the CORE, we’d get enough of a boost to contact Frisk?”

Undyne nodded. “Not a bad idea. Damn it, I just... I feel guilty. Maybe I turned away for a minute and they were taken before I could do anything, and if I’d been just a little more attentive, I coulda saved Frisk,” she sighed, leaning into Alphys. “What if it’s too late to save them? What if they weren’t even taken anywhere and they just spontaneously vaporized? What if–”

Alphys cut her off. “I’m wondering if I should be more worried about you? The Undyne I know wouldn’t be questioning herself like this. She’d be off on a heroic adventure to save one of her best friends from potential doom and terror and anime villains!” she joked.

The responding laughter wasn’t sudden. It faded from just a small smile grew into a chuckle and further until tears were streaming down Undyne’s grinning face. She eventually managed to compose herself and planted a kiss on Alphys’s forehead. “Thanks, Alph. I needed that,” she admitted before heading back to Mt. Ebott.

Alphys had dunked her face in Sans’s ketchup stash and lost the ability to form coherent thought until after Undyne was gone. Her face cleared and then morphed itself into an expression of the purest form of joy and she let out a tiny squeal before hurrying out to join Undyne. Alphys revved up her pink motorcycle and chased after Undyne. She honked her horn and rolled to a stop when she reached Undyne, who grinned and hopped behind Alphys. They drove off to Mt. Ebott and Alphys sighed wistfully when they arrived. Even Undyne was lost in nostalgia for a moment.

“Remember when Toriel and Asgore remarried here?” Alphys asked with a grin. “Sans somehow managed to get whoopie cushions in almost every seat during the toast at the reception.”

Undyne laughed. “I don’t know how he does it,” she reflected as they made the walk up the path to the entrance. “And Gerson’s speech about how he expected to be there next time they divorced and remarried was hilarious.”

The two reminisced as they walked through the former capital to the Underground’s technological heart, waving at the monsters they passed who still remained. Apparently a few humans had even moved underground, mostly scientists and historians. Alphys and Undyne finally reached the CORE and Alphys typed in the passcode for inner access. Undyne was mildly excited, since she’d never seen this part of the CORE.

“Okay, this is probably where we’re gonna get the strongest signal,” Alphys decided when they reached a tiny room furnished with only a desk, chair, and a few electrical outlets. “I think the old Royal Scientist used to work here when he needed privacy. When Asgore first put me on the job I found some old journals here indicating the rooms on this corridor were used for more unusual experiments that he wanted to keep to himself until they proved to bear more fruit. One of them was investigating the possibility of civilizations beyond this solar system. The journals didn’t divulge much, I assume because he was never able to make much headway, but one did mention finding magical energy signatures unlike anything a monster could put out reaching through the CORE. It was dated about a century ago, right before he supposedly fell inside it.”

“We’re not gonna follow his example, right?” Undyne questioned.

“Of course not, but this is the closest room to the core of, well, the CORE, and if Frisk happened to end up in the place said energy came from...” Alphys began.

“We might be able to get a message to them from here,” Undyne realized.

“Exactly,” Alphys confirmed. “It’s a long shot, but it’s our best shot. Here, plug your phone in and then try texting Frisk.”

Undyne followed the instructions and texted a simple, You okay, kid?

Omg I’m so sorry you’ve all probably been so worried I’m fine was the reply. Undyne heaved a massive sigh of relief.

Where the heck are u? You just kinda disappeared.

Ended up in some kinda land of magic ponies it’s kinda cool

Undyne tapped out a response. Excuse me I need proof now

Frisk replied with a selfie of them with eight ponies in a variety of colors. Two had horns, two had wings, two had horns and wings, and two were unadorned. One of the unadorned was bright pink and popped in from the side.

Yo what’s up with the pink one? Undyne asked.

Frisk infuriatingly dismissed it. It’s Pinkie Pie don’t question it

Undyne remembered a slightly more pressing matter. Should I tell your parents ur fine?

Frisk replied, Oh ye do that but I’ll probs be here a while bc portal magic is apparently really hard to do on purpose

Aight I’m gonna go tell Toriel and Asgore

Frisk suddenly sent a message. An urgent WAIT HOLD UP preceded a face swapped selfie with them and some weird snaky mishmash of animal parts.

what the actual

His name’s Discord and he’s cool ok bye now

Bye?

Alphys gave Undyne a hopeful look.

“The kid’s fine,” Undyne confirmed. “They’re in a land of magic ponies.” She showed Alphys the pictures. “And some kinda animal mishmash named Discord.”

Alphys snorted at Frisk’s selfie with Discord. “Well, they at least look happy. Tor-Toriel a-and Asgore will be really rel-rel-relieeee... I can’t say that with a straight face while looking at that,” she laughed. Undyne nodded and unplugged her phone.

“We should probably head back. Every second we’re gone is a chance for Toriel to enter frantic mental breakdown and Asgore to cry,” Undyne pointed out.

“Very fair point,” Alphys decided.

The two returned as quickly as they could and Undyne couldn’t help feeling that Alphys was pushing the speed limit a little bit more than necessary to expedite the journey as much as possible. Toriel sobbed in relief when Undyne delivered the good news, and Asgore was quite bemused by Frisk’s selfies. After she’d calmed down, Toriel called Sans and Papyrus and explained. It took a great deal of convincing and a mini-lecture from Undyne to assure Papyrus that Frisk was okay, and Sans didn’t really have much to say aside from a halfhearted attempt at making a pun out of the situation. Undyne forwarded Sans the pictures that Frisk had sent her, which noticeably improved both his and Papyrus’s moods.

“next time ya text the kid, tell ‘em i said hey, ok?” Sans asked.

“GIVE THE HUMAN MY GREETING AS WELL, PLEASE!” Papyrus added.

Undyne gave an affirmative grunt before Toriel ended the call.

“I believe... I am going to go take a shower,” Toriel decided, drifting down to the linen closet.

Undyne and Alphys bid goodbye to Asgore before going off to spend some time together.

Watching anime, of course.

Arc 1, Part 2: Frisk's Adventures in Ponyville

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Surprise Party

“Thanks again for letting me stay here,” Frisk murmured sleepily to Twilight as they shoved oatmeal in their face.

“Are you kidding? You’re both a human and you saved Equestria from eternal chaos. It’s the least I can do,” Twilight chuckled. “I hear Pinkie coming, though. She’s probably here to–”

“Spoilers, Twilight!” Pinkie’s chipper voice called from outside. Twilight rolled her eyes and opened the door for her friend. “Howdy-hey, Frisk and Twilight and Spike!” Pinkie exclaimed. “You are formally invited to a free-from-chaos-Ponyville Pinkie Pie Party!”

Twilight laughed. “There it is! Spike and I’d be delighted to attend.”

“Well, if it’s specifically called a ‘Pinkie Pie Party,’” Frisk reasoned aloud, “then that probably means it’s famous or special. Therefore, it’s very probably worth going to!”

Twilight grinned. “You bet it’s special! Pinkie throws the absolute best parties.”

“It’ll be Town Hall at noon! Be there!” Pinkie giggled before skipping off to either prepare or invite others.

“Okay, that’s in what, four hours?” Frisk asked Twilight.

“Yep. You mind if I go out and help? You and Spike can keep an eye on each other for a few hours, right?” Twilight asked.

“Sure, I guess,” Frisk confirmed, somewhat confused. “See you at the party, I guess?”

“See you!” Twilight called as she galloped out.

“She’s acting weird today,” Spike noticed. “Well, uh, you like board games? I can’t really play with anypony except Twilight and I can’t ever win against her.”

“What’ve you got?” Frisk asked, interested.

“Well, there’s this one called Ogres and Oubliettes that I really love... I guess it’s less of a purely board game, it’s kinda a fusion of board and card games, um, but basically you pretend to be this character in a set of classes, which give you different ways of fighting in battle,” Spike explained, “and then you roll a die to see how effective your moves are and what kind of moves you can do, and it’s really cool and there’s a lot of strategy and planning involved!”

“Oh, we’ve got that game back home!” Frisk realized. “At least in spirit, since our version’s called Dungeons and Dragons but it’s basically the exact same thing as you’re describing.”

“Nice!” Spike grinned. “You wanna... maybe, start a campaign?”

“Sure, I think I’ve got my character sheets somewhere in my phone’s storage...” Frisk trailed off, scrolling through their phone. “Here it is! My character’s a level 10 cleric named Miranda Halden who channels the will of the God of Hyperdeath to decimate her foes,” they babbled, showing Spike the picture.

“Ooh, cool!” Spike grinned. “Mine’s a level 7 Enchanter named Garbunkle, who’s super famous and always treated with the utmost respect,” he declared proudly.

“Okay, but before we start, who’s gonna be the DM?” Frisk asked, doodling out a sketch of Miranda on a cardboard play piece Spike handed them.

“You got a campaign in mind?” Spike asked. “If you’ve got an interesting one, I’m willing to let you do it.”

“One based somewhat on a true story, but yeah. I’ve got one,” Frisk said with an almost nostalgic smile.

“Well, go for it! Sometimes true stories are better than fiction,” Spike grinned.

They finished setting up and Frisk cleared their throat. “In the land of Ebott, there is an ancient kingdom, sealed below the known world. Few have entered, and none have returned. Garbunkle and Miranda have set off to the magic shield keeping the kingdom separate and entered the ruins of the former capital city of the Delta Kingdom...”

The next few hours were spent as Frisk spun a tale very similar to their own adventures, altering it in places but keeping the core elements the same. The soulless husk who greeted them, the kind guardian of the ruins, the lonely musician, and the cozy home at the edge of the city all called back to Frisk’s own adventures in the Underground. Spike wondered what kind of story this campaign could be based on. As noon approached, Frisk decided to end the campaign right before the fight with the Ruins Guardian so they’d have time to get ready for Pinkie’s party. Spike dug out an unused brush for Frisk and went off to polish his scales. Frisk ran the brush through their hair and slipped a golden flower into their sweater over their heart.

When Spike was finally ready they went together to the town hall, Spike pointing out various shops and businesses he and Twilight enjoyed, but Frisk was distracted. For being a party... it was awfully quiet. They voiced their concerns to Spike.

“You’re not wrong,” Spike agreed with a frown. “I hope everypony’s okay...”

Frisk adjusted the heart locket around their neck as the two approached, biting their bottom lip slightly. Spike’s claw reached toward their hand and they grasped it gratefully. They reached the town hall to find decorations and game and vendor stalls aplenty, but no ponies.

Spike’s breathing grew heavy and he started looking around nervously. “Twilight? Pinkie? Rarity? Someone? Is anypony–”

“SURPRISE!” a shout rang out as ponies materialized in front of them. “WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!”

Frisk glared in disapproval. Spike clung to Frisk’s side. Twilight noticed his abating terror and cast a sheepish look.

“Didn’t mean to scare y’all,” Applejack apologized. “Pinkie jus’ wanted to make it a surprise party so Twilight cast an invisibility spell ta hide us.”

“It wasn’t the surprise portion that scared us,” Frisk deadpanned. “It was the fact that we thought you’d all disappeared or something. It was... so quiet. I really thought you had all... all died.” Spike only nodded.

Pinkie walked up and gave the two an apology hug. “I didn’t mean to scare you two...” she trailed off. “I just wanted your traditional ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party to be special, and since I was already planning a party to celebrate being freed from Discord, I figured I’d merge them. I’m really sorry. Parties aren’t supposed to be scary. Unless it’s a Nightmare Night party, I guess. But even then...”

“It’s... it’s alright, Pinkie,” Frisk offered. “But, hey, since we’re here, why don’t we go ahead and get started? Those cupcakes aren’t gonna eat themselves,” they quipped.

Pinkie beamed. “You heard Frisk! Let’s get this party... STARTED!” she exclaimed, confetti shooting over the plaza. Ponies cheered and upbeat music started playing through speakers arranged. A white unicorn with a bright blue mane and pink goggles bobbed her head at a DJ stand. Vendors opened up around the plaza offering cotton candy, cupcakes, cocoa, apple cider, and a bunch of other treats and drinks, plus the game stands. Rainbow Dash was immediately at the cider stand to Frisk's amusement. They wandered around, taking in the sights and sounds and smells. Suddenly, a hoof tapped their back. They turned to find three pony fillies looking eagerly at them.

"Howdy, Ah'm Apple Bloom, and this here's Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo," Apple Bloom introduced.

"I'm Frisk. Nice to meet you!" they greeted.

"Are you really a human?" Scootaloo blurted out.

Frisk took it in stride. "Well, unless I've been lied to my entire life, yes," they joked.

"My sister Rarity told me you were able to defeat Discord!" Sweetie Belle squeaked excitedly. "She never said how, only that she and her friends couldn't defeat him but then you did. How'd you do it?"

"I dodged. Repeatedly. For ten minutes," Frisk sighed. "Pro tip: getting hit with chaos magic hurts."

"That's... kinda lame," Scootaloo pointed out.

"Ya know, that might be an idea, though! I wonder what a cutie mark for dodgin' would look like..." Apple Bloom drifted into thought.

"Cutie mark?" Frisk asked offhandedly as they grabbed a cupcake from a stand they'd drifted to.

"You don't know what a cutie mark is?" Sweetie Belle asked, shocked.

"Well, no. Should I?" Frisk asked before sinking their teeth into the moist, rich vanilla flavor and the thick, creamy icing of the cupcake in their hands.

"A cutie mark is, like, the most important thing a pony could get in their lives!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"I believe we already had the conversation that I am very much not a pony," Frisk reminded the fillies during bites.

“Ohhhh, riiight,” the fillies realized.

“Well, a cutie mark is a representation of somepony’s special talent or destiny that they get when they find it,” Sweetie Belle explained. “You see the pictures on everypony’s flanks?”

Frisk nodded.

Sweetie continued, “They all got those when they were foals. It happened when they discovered their special talent, or what they were meant to do.”

“Cool! I take it you haven’t gotten yours yet?” Frisk asked after licking the icing off their fingers.

Scootaloo sighed, “Nope, and it’s SUPER ANNOYING! Almost everypony in our class already has theirs except for us!”

“At the same time, though,” Apple Bloom interjected, “it’s kinda good for us! We wouldn’t have met if we’d gotten our cutie marks earlier!”

“When we met, we formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Our mission is to do everything until we get our cutie marks!” Sweetie Belle declared.

Frisk grinned and went off to check out the rest of the party. A game was opening up on the other side of the plaza and Frisk went over to check it out.

Rarity headed the game. “Welcome, everypony, to Pin the Tail on the Pony! The objective is simple: attempt to put the tail in the correct spot while blindfolded! Who would like to go first?” she asked. Frisk and a various assortment of foals and older ponies raised their equivalents of arms. Rarity noticed Frisk and smiled. “Frisk, why don’t you go first?”

“Okay,” Frisk shrugged.

Rarity floated a red bandana over and tied it around Frisk’s eyes as well as a bunch of string with tape on one side. Once Frisk nodded to confirm it was tight enough, Rarity began spinning them around while the nearby portion of the crowd began chanting, “Round and round and round you go, where you stop nopony knows!”

Frisk took a minute to get their bearings. They breathed, walked forward to where they thought the paper was, and stuck the tail on the paper, which crinkled satisfyingly under the pressure. Laughter rose up from the crowd and they took the blindfold off to find out that the tail had ended up on the pony’s midsection.

“Well, I guess now it’s a pegasus!” they quipped, intensifying the laughter. Even Rarity couldn’t help giggling. They sat back and watched a bunch of ponies attempt, and most of them got significantly closer than Frisk did. They didn’t mind, it was less than half an hour in and they were already having fun.

The next hour was a blur. Frisk went all over the plaza, enjoying baked treats and party games, and they made several new friends. Aside from a few startled glances, none of the ponies seemed to pay them any more mind than they would a normal filly. A few had a sort of reverent gleam in their eyes when they first saw Frisk, but Frisk dismissed it as just not having seen a human.

Until they met a mint-green unicorn named Lyra Heartstrings. They’d bumped into the unicorn on accident, as had been the case more than once, but then Lyra started freaking out. Apparently she was a human fangirl like Alphys, but she was infatuated with the species both to a higher degree and as a species. She didn’t care about human culture as much as learning everything there was to know about being a human. Eventually Frisk got overwhelmed and had to flee the situation. Lyra tried to pursue, but was held back by a pale yellow Earth pony, who Frisk later learned was named Bon Bon, who gave Frisk an apologetic look. Eventually Rainbow Dash found her way to Frisk and offered them a ride above the party to relax. She’d seen Frisk’s situation with Lyra and would have helped had Bon Bon not intervened. She rested on a cloud and Frisk was grateful for the chance to hang out and chill. Eventually Frisk let out that Rainbow kind of reminded them a little of Papyrus and got to tell the pegasus about their adventures in Snowdin. Rainbow laughed at Frisk’s recounting of the “sadistic disco lights floor,” as Mettaton had later referred to it as. Then Frisk challenged Rainbow’s ego by saying Papyrus was the coolest person they knew.

“Doubt it,” Rainbow scoffed. “Does he have a special move spoken of in legend?”

“I mean, he can manipulate gravity to an extent,” Frisk replied. “He’s also got a ‘special attack’ that I assume is super cool but I’ve never seen it because the one time I was gonna see the attack it got stolen by a dog.”

Rainbow smirked. “Ha! So I’m cooler, since his gravity manipulation isn’t legendary!”

“Okay, but he’s got a theme song,” Frisk retorted. They played the song Napstablook had made for Papyrus to punctuate their point. “All the coolest people, whether hero or villain, have an awesome theme song!” they explained. “You can be cool without one, I guess, but if coolness is a scale between 1 and 100, an awesome theme song boosts your score by at least 20 points. So maybe your base stats are higher than his, but his theme song boosts his score above yours,” they challenged.

“That’s fair, I guess...” Rainbow Dash muttered. “But I’m totally gonna show you that move and we’ll see how I’m ranked then,” she said smugly.

“We’ll see,” Frisk scoffed with equal smug. “Can you fly me down now? I think Lyra’s finally stopped staring at me.”

“Oh, sure,” Rainbow nodded before gliding to the ground. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow and show you my Sonic Rainboom.”

“Looking forward to it,” Frisk chuckled.

Frisk went back to enjoying themselves. Eventually they were approached by a pale brown Earth pony with a gray mane. “You’re Frisk, correct?” she asked. Frisk nodded. “I’m Mayor Mare, mayor of Ponyville. The party’s winding down a bit and I wanted to give a small thank-you speech before everypony left for you and Pinkie and a few others who helped out.”

“Oh, sure, do you need me to do anything in particular?” Frisk asked.

“Just kind of stand up there with the ponies,” the mayor said, pointing at a small podium where Pinkie, Twilight, the DJ, and two ponies Frisk didn’t recognize were already making their way.

Frisk followed instructions and waved to Pinkie. Mayor Mare walked up after a moment and cleared her throat. She tapped the microphone and said, “Thank you, everypony, for coming to this party. It’s good to see so many in good spirits after Discord’s attack. Miss Pie, thank you for setting up this party, and Miss Sparkle, thank you for helping organize setting it up. DJ PON-3, Miss Octavia, thank you for the music, and thanks to Miss Derpy for sending out most of the invitations. But most of all, thank you, Frisk, for saving us all from Discord. Can everypony give Frisk a Ponyville Welcome?”

Ponies clapped their hooves and pounded the ground as Frisk waved with a smile. Spike cheered a bit more loudly than most and Lyra screamed in joy. Frisk stepped behind Twilight for protection once she realized it was Lyra. Soon, ponies started leaving and taking down decorations. Frisk hurried back to the library the instant Lyra couldn’t see them and hid in Twilight’s loft. It seemed like hours of staunchly watching the window before Twilight and Spike finally stepped up to the door and went inside.

“Frisk?” Twilight called. “You’re here, right?”

“Only if that Lyra unicorn isn’t,” Frisk replied.

“Don’t worry,” Spike chuckled. “Lyra left soon after you did.”

Frisk peered down the stairs, and satisfied that they weren’t going to be attacked by a human-crazy pony with a too-sharp horn, they joined Twilight and Spike.

“She was in my classes back at Celestia’s magic school. She’s normally not like this,” Twilight said apologetically. “She’s always had an interest in mythology and stuff, but... Not this extreme.”

Frisk sighed. “She reminds me of my friend Alphys in a way. Alphys was absolutely obsessed with human fiction and these cartoons called anime, but...”

“She was able to separate her obsession with the fiction from her feelings towards its creators?” Twilight offered.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Frisk agreed.

The rest of the day was spent in silence as the three recovered from the party. Frisk got a few texts from her friends around five and spent the next hour in conversation about their separate days. Eventually dinnertime came around and Frisk had a small meal of carrots and broccoli with a glass of water since Toriel demanded they eat something healthy. They decided to go to sleep early for Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom performance the next day.

❤︎

Taste the Rainbow, Mother–

Frisk was enjoying Rainbow’s performance even before she started attempting the Rainboom. The trail left by Rainbow’s mane and tail was already mesmerizing, but then Rainbow began shooting down to start building up speed. The rest of the Elements and Spike ended up joining Frisk while Rainbow took a small water break and Fluttershy passed around tea and Rarity offered scones. Within minutes– after Twilight convinced Rainbow to let her monitor the pegasus’s stats to try to analyze the science behind the Rainboom– Rainbow Dash was back in the air, tracing a vertical wave pattern as she built up speed. Frisk took out their phone to video the Rainboom as Rainbow climbed to a higher point than she had previously and began shooting down, further, further until...

BOOM!

A rainbow flame traced a sonic boom as Rainbow’s trail shot upward and over Ponyville in an arc. Frisk was close to tasting grass with how far their jaw dropped as they gazed at the Rainboom. Fluttershy giggled at their stunned awe.

“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” she asked.

Frisk’s only reply was a mumbled “Uh-huh...” as they stopped recording.

“First Rainboom, I take it?” Rarity joked. “They certainly are absolutely stunning!”

Frisk breathed a sigh of wonder. When Rainbow finally landed at the hill, she flipped her mane. “So, am I cooler than your other friend?” she asked with a smirk.

Frisk put on a pensive look. “Hm... Nah,” they decided. “You’re not cooler.”

Rainbow nearly choked. “But I just...”

“He’s always gonna be cooler, but I’d say you’re more awesome,” Frisk explained.

Rainbow put on a look blank enough to rival one of Frisk’s own expressions of neutrality. There was a long pause before she sighed. “You know what? I guess I’ll take that.”

“You know, Frisk, since you’re here, I wanted to talk about something,” Rarity said.

“What is it?” Frisk asked curiously.

“Well, you’ve been here for almost two days... and you haven’t changed your outfit once! I understand it’s because you don’t really have anything else, but you could look so wonderful in a fresh set of clothes! Please, allow me to design something for you,” she insisted.

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" Frisk sighed.

"Nope!" Rarity squealed in delight. "You most certainly do not!"

"After y'all are done at Rarity's, ya mind comin' to Sweet Apple Acres? Apple Bloom's infatuated with y'all since she met ya at the party an' mah Granny'd love to see y'all," Applejack explained.

"Sure, I can do that," Frisk nodded.

❤︎

Fashion and Farmers

The sun had just begun its descent into afternoon when Frisk dragged themselves to the Carousel Boutique. Rarity was already waiting for them, with pins and needles and fabrics aplenty laid out. Sweetie Belle gave a pitying glance at Frisk as they walked in before scurrying up the stairs. Rarity directed Frisk to a changing booth where they put on a cotton sheet with arm and head holes while Rarity took measurements on their sweater and jeans. She eventually returned Frisk's clothes and hummed a cheerful tune while she sewed. Eventually Rarity offered Frisk a test and Frisk had to admit, the clothes were pretty nice. Rarity had whipped up a soft golden brown tunic with yellow trim and silver designs and a pair of denim pants with red patterns stitched in.

“The only problem,” Frisk eventually decided, “is that the pants are a little loose.”

“Well, give me just a moment and I’ll sew you a belt for that!” Rarity cheered. “And for a little extra sparkle, can you draw me what you want the clasp to look like?” she added, floating a pencil and a sheet of paper over to Frisk. Frisk naturally drew the top part of the Delta Rune, with the slight alteration of the wings actually touching the circle. Rarity nodded when she saw and pulled out a brilliant ruby as red as Frisk’s SOUL. Rarity concentrated, her horn blazing, and the gem began molding itself into the desired shape under the pressure of her magic. She quickly fixed it to the canvas belt and showed Frisk how to clasp it around their waist. Frisk wandered over to the mirror and grinned at their new look. They stretched their legs a bit and were very happy to find the denim unoppressive. Rarity had even thought to include pockets for their phone. They used the storage space Alphys had set up for them to stash their old clothes in and waved goodbye to a very pleased Rarity after slipping their shoes back on. They jogged to the apple farm where Applejack waited but accidentally bumped into a gray pegasus mare on their way. A bunch of envelopes fell out of her saddlebags and Frisk cringed.

“I’m so sorry,” they apologized, quickly working to pick them up. “I shoulda been looking where I was going.”

“Oh, don’t worry! I’m bad at that too,” the mare replied honestly. Frisk happened a glance at her face when they presented the picked-up letters to find a lazy eye doing its own thing while the other eye gleamed thankfully. “I’m Derpy Hooves,” she introduced herself.

“I’m Frisk. Nice to meet you,” Frisk said as they handed her the letters.

“Okie, thanks for picking the letters up. I’d better get to my deliveries. Not rain, nor snow, nor wind, nor bad eyesight will stop this mailpony from making her rounds!” Derpy declared with a salute before flying off to deliver mail. Frisk laughed cheerfully before continuing to Sweet Apple Acres. The pleasant smell of apple pie tickled their nose as they approached the bright red barn. They brushed a leaf off their new shirt before knocking on the door of the house portion. A very excited Apple Bloom threw the door open with a squeal.

“They’re here, AJ!” she called.

“Well, don’t keep ‘em outside!” Applejack replied with a sing-song laugh. Apple Bloom stammered and stepped out of the way. Frisk beamed kindly and entered the cozy living room. An elderly lime green mare with frizzy white hair smiled at Frisk.

“Well, hot-diggety, yer a real human!” she cackled. “Ah wasn’t quite sure Apple Bloom was tellin’ the truth but whaddya know!? Big Mac, get on in here! We’ve got a guest!”

“Nnnope,” came a deep, throaty voice from the adjoining room.

“Pleaaaase, Mac?” Apple Bloom asked, poking her head through the doorway.

“Nnnope.”

“He usually this talkative?” Frisk quipped, having already been made aware of Big Mac’s reticent nature thanks to Applejack.

The elderly mare howled in laughter, and Apple Bloom snickered.

“Nnnope,” came the reply in a decidedly more amused tone.

“Oh, Frisk, this is mah Granny Smith,” Apple Bloom introduced.

“Nice to meet you,” Frisk smiled.

“Hoo-wee, Applejack! Y’all have a unique taste in friends, that’s fer sure. First Zecora an’ now an honest-to-Faust human! Ah ain’t had this much excitement since Ah was a dadgum filly competin’ in divin’ competitions,” Granny Smith reminisced.

“Who’s Zecora?” Frisk asked.

“Ooh, Zecora’s a zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest!” Apple Bloom babbled. “We met ‘er a bit after Twilight came ta Ponyville and–”

A soft ding interrupted Apple Bloom’s story. Applejack brought out a steaming, fresh apple pie. She nodded with a surprised expression at Frisk’s new clothes after she set the pie down.

“Well, Ah gotta say, Rarity spruced y’all up real nice,” she commented. “Ah wouldn’t mind wearin’ that myself, if Ah’m bein’ honest.”

A hulking red stallion with a short orange mane lumbered out of what was probably the kitchen considering the pie and nodded at Frisk with a small smile.

Applejack didn’t fail to notice her brother’s expression of emotion. “Huh, Ah’d say Big Mac’s taken a likin’ to y’all, Frisk,” she commented.

Frisk widened their eyes in pretend shock. “Cross-species pedophilia?” they asked with a secret conspiratorial wink toward Big Mac.

Applejack choked in disgust. “I didn’t mean it like that!” she gasped out.

Big Mac let out a hearty belly laugh and Frisk giggled. “Fer bein’ the Element of Honesty, li’l sis,” Big Mac managed, “y’all aren’t too good at catchin’ a joke.”

Applejack stared a moment and groaned. “Alright, no pie for the two o’ y’all jokers,” she muttered.

“Joke’s on you, I’ve got the best pie in the universe,” Frisk retorted, pulling a butterscotch-cinnamon pie from their phone’s storage space and using the Worn Dagger to cut themselves a small slice. “You want a piece, Big Mac?”

“Eeyup,” he nodded hungrily, eyeing the pie. The rest of the family bore a look of absolute confusion as they looked back and forth between the pie that Frisk needed two hands to carry and the phone they could easily hold in one.

The reactions all came out at once.

“What in tarnation–” Granny questioned.

“How in Faust’s name–” Applejack demanded.

“What kind of pie is that?” Apple Bloom asked.

“My mom’s famous butterscotch-cinnamon pie,” Frisk replied to Apple Bloom, pointedly ignoring Applejack and Granny. “Like I said, best pie in the universe and I will die– pie on that hill.”

“Could I maybe try a piece?” Apple Bloom asked innocently.

Frisk sliced a piece and slipped it over to the filly, whose mind metaphorically exploded when she tasted the pastry.

“This is amazing,” Apple Bloom gasped, inhaling the rest of the pie.

“You could say you fell in love at first bite?” Frisk quipped to a facehoof from Applejack.

“Yeah, probably,” Apple Bloom decided, considering the pun.

“Get outta here,” Applejack muttered. “Ah can’t deal with this punnery.”

“See ya later!” Frisk called, shoving the pie and Worn Dagger in their phone storage and darting off before Applejack got genuinely mad. Apple Bloom grinned pointedly and Big Mac laughed at Applejack’s expressions of anger and confusion. Frisk giggled their way out of the farmlands and back to the library.

Arc 1, Part 3: The Magic of Friendship Needs More Friends

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A few days later, Frisk woke up to find Twilight and Spike obsessing over checklists. Twilight noticed they were awake and grumbled.

“Spike, we forgot Frisk, didn’t we?” she asked.

Spike groaned. “Yeah. Yeah, we did.”

“I can just pretend not to exist,” Frisk said. “If that would help.”

“I’m sorry, that sounded wrong, didn’t it? Just... well, we can pencil them in, right?” she asked Spike. He nodded.

“Figure we can put getting them anything they need right after we return the blackboard to Cheerilee,” Spike suggested.

“That reminds me... You said you were thirteen, right, Frisk?” Twilight asked. Frisk nodded. “So... you’re still in school, correct?” she clarified. Frisk nodded again. “Who’s your teacher?”

“My mom,” Frisk said with a grin.

“So, uh... well, your mom kind of isn’t... you know, here to teach you so... have you asked her about it at all?” Twilight asked, nodding at Frisk’s phone. They shook their head.

“The thought hasn’t actually crossed my mind,” they admitted.

“Well, I’m sure your parents would be mad at me whenever we get you back if I let you slack off on learning,” Twilight chuckled. “I’m not a great teacher, but I think Cheerilee has an open spot in her class if you’d like to join. I saw you talking with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo at Pinkie’s party the other day. They’re in her class.”

“Do I have a real choice?” Frisk asked, laughing. Twilight shook her head in giggles.

“Not really,” she admitted. “Anyway, back to checklists!” she said, turning back to Spike and going over everything for the day. Frisk rolled their eyes and changed into a fresh set of clothes Rarity’d made them. Frisk had found themself amused routinely by Rarity’s eagerness and speed at making them clothes. They never actually asked, but also didn’t want to turn Rarity down.

*You think you look nice, a voice in their head commented.

Oh, hey there, narrator, Frisk thought. What do you think? they continued flirtatiously.

*You look like a dork.

Meanie, Frisk retorted while sticking out their tongue. Haven’t heard from you since I left the Underground. How’ve you been?

*You find out you’re not getting an answer.

Whatever. Talk soon, I guess, Frisk rolled their eyes.

The next few hours were spent running around Ponyvile with Twilight and Spike while Twilight filled out her day’s checklist. Cheerilee was delighted at the prospect of a new student and accepted Frisk into her class. The rest of the checklist went swimmingly... until Twilight realized she hadn’t sent a friendship report to Celestia in the last week.

Frisk kind of tuned her out as she freaked out about magic kindergarten and being tardy until Twilight approached Frisk.

“So... Frisk, any problems, confusions, troubles, anything that I could help you out with as a good friend?” she asked with pleading eyes.

Frisk swallowed nervously and shook their head. “Uh... not that I can think of,” they said.

Narrator, you got anything?

*Nothing comes to mind.

Greaaaat...

“That's! Alright! I can find somepony else to solve a friendship problem for!” Twilight chuckled before racing out the door.

Spike gave a worried glance. “She doesn’t get worked up like this often... I hope she’ll be okay.”

Frisk nodded. “How long does she have?”

“Until sunset,” Spike explained.

“That is entirely unhelpful.”

“Oh. Yeah. Uh... three hours. Three hours for her to go insane and for me to worry about her,” he admitted.

“Why don’t you send Princess Celestia a message?” Frisk suggested. “Maybe if she knows, she can help calm Twilight down.”

“That’s actually a pretty good idea,” Spike said. “Um... what should it say?”

After a bit of debate, Frisk and Spike managed to hammer out a good letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

This is Spike (and Frisk!) writing. We’re writing to tell you about Twilight. She hasn’t sent a friendship letter this week, and she’s really paranoid that you’re going to send her to magic kindergarten for being tardy. I’m (Spike) worried about her, because she’s really frantic. She’s gotten so worried she’s gone out to search for problems her friends are having. Frisk suggested that I write you a letter. Nopony better to reassure Twilight than the one she’s afraid of disappointing, right?

Please reply soon. We’re really concerned for her mental state.

Yours truly,

Spike & Frisk Dreemurr

“Are you sure it’ll work?” Spike asked as he held the scroll.

“Hey, even if it doesn’t, there can’t be a negative effect I can think of,” Frisk pointed out.

Spike smiled thankfully. “Thanks. For the idea and for reassuring me,” he said before sending the scroll.

Frisk cracked a smile. “You’re not the first reptilian creature with self-confidence issues I’ve helped. The other one was Alphys, who I’ve already told you about,” they explained.

“Huh... Well, since we’ve got a bit before she probably comes back in, wanna play some O&O?” Spike asked.

“Sure. I think we were at the Ruined City Guardian?” Frisk remembered.

“Sounds about right,” Spike agreed as he began pulling out the papers and pieces for the game. They spent an hour playing through the Snowdin Woodland and the Icedin City, where their characters met the Royal Lieutenant and the Kingdom Sentry. As the adventure reached the Snowed Inn, a golden light flashed in the room as Celestia entered.

Frisk and Spike bowed their heads quickly before Celestia said, “I got your letter. Where is Twilight, exac–”

She was interrupted by Twilight bursting through the door. Her mane was frazzled and one of her eyes had a severe twitch. She looked terrified when she noticed Celestia.

“Oh nononononono I could’ve sworn I still had time!” she panicked. “Princess, I’m so sorry, I’m gonna be tardy, please don’t send me back to magic kindergarten!” Twilight bawled out.

Celestia blinked. “Why would I send you to magic kindergarten?” she asked.

Twilight trembled as she looked up. “B-because I’ll be tardy and then you’ll give me a test to prove I really know the magic of friendship and then I might fail and when teachers have failing students they send them back a grade but–”

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Celestia had to interrupt her. “You are not going back to magic kindergarten. You’ve had a perfect attendance and submission record since I first took you on as my student. Why would missing one report make me forget all of that and restart your learning entirely?” she demanded.

Twilight whimpered. “I... I just...”

Celestia sighed and embraced her student gently. “Twilight, it’s okay. You were never going to get in trouble for being a little late with one report. Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted eventually. “I just... it’s been so confusing and complicated lately and– and... I was scared of disappointing you.”

“You would have to actively try to accomplish that,” Celestia reassured her. “And I think you can learn a good lesson from this. It was Frisk and Spike who called me here because they were worried about you.”

“You don’t freak out like this normally,” Spike explained. “I mean, sure, you’re obsessed with timeliness, but... it was kinda scary how you were acting,” he admitted.

Twilight walked over and gave him a hug. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, Spike. I should have realized I was going too far.”

“Hey, at least nothing bad happened, right? Could’ve been a lot worse,” Frisk pointed out. Twilight chuckled.

“With the spiral I was going down, I could have been persuaded that the only solution was to make a friendship problem,” she admitted.

“Twilight, that actually reminds me of an idea I had. Could you bring your friends here?” Celestia asked.

“Yeah, I can do that,” Twilight nodded after smoothing out her mane. She galloped out and returned shortly with all her friends.

“You needed us, Princess?” Rainbow Dash asked. Celestia nodded.

“You may or may not have seen that Twilight Sparkle was very... upset today,” Celestia said.

“She... didn’t seem upset,” Applejack said, “but she was awfully insistent on resolvin’ a problem ‘tween Rainbow an’ I that didn’t exist.”

“She was trying to force herself to find a friendship problem to resolve for her weekly letter and thought I was going to send her back to magic kindergarten if she was late,” Celestia explained.

Applejack snickered a little. “Really, Twi? That’s what you were freakin’ out about?”

Twilight blushed slightly in embarrassment.

Celestia cleared her throat. “In any case, to prevent situations like this in the future, I have a proposal. The point of a friendship is to work together, and it’s rather counterproductive to have only one pony show proof when you’re all learning, isn’t it?”

The ponies, Spike, and Frisk nodded in agreement. “Therefore,” Celestia continued, “I’m altering Twilight’s study plan. Whenever any of you, including Frisk and Spike, learn something new about the magic of friendship, you may write me a letter. You can send three letters in a week or one in three weeks. So long as you send it whenever you learn something new.”

Twilight smiled. “Thanks, Princess,” she sighed.

“Group hug, everypony!” Pinkie giggled, somehow reaching across the room to pull Frisk, Celestia, and Spike in with her.

“How...?” Celestia asked.

“My working theory is that Pinkie operates on another level of reality to the rest of the world,” Frisk quipped, sending the ponies and Spike into cheerful laughter as Celestia drew the sun down to begin the night.

Arc 1, Part 4: Frisk's Brush with High Society

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POTENTIAL TW: Mentions of child abuse (nothing described)

Spike and Frisk slipped through the room as quietly as they could, approaching Twilight’s sleeping body. Spike poked her back with a single claw, stirring her awake. She sat up and looked at the fading sunrise out her window before Frisk pulled a party popper for her.

“Happy birthday, Twilight!” they and Spike exclaimed in unison before tackling her in a hug. Twilight made some incoherent noises before the fog of sleep faded and she started giggling. She hugged her de facto siblings back before shaking them off.

“What’s that smell?” she asked as she brushed her mane out.

“Frisk and I made pancakes!” Spike announced proudly.

“We even put silly faces on them!” Frisk explained. Twilight grinned and joined the two for breakfast. Twilight admired their handiwork, perfectly round, fluffy cakes with chocolate chips mixed into a lot of them and faces made of banana slices, whipped cream, peanut butter, and blueberries adorned the tops. The three dug in quickly and happily as Twilight talked about her birthday plans. She’d go visit Shining Armor and introduce him to Frisk and give Frisk a tour of Canterlot before swinging around to Pinkie’s party at sunset after Rarity finished Twilight’s dress. Plans changed, though, when Rarity approached Frisk asking if they could join Rarity around town while they and Twilight were on their way to meet Shining Armor, and Frisk promised Twilight they’d meet her brother at the party. Frisk climbed on Rarity’s back and Rarity squealed before galloping out to her room. She levitated a change of fairly fancy clothes toward Frisk and Frisk changed into them.

“So... just curious,” Frisk said as they inspected their new clothes, “Why’d you need me to come with you?”

“Well, ah...” Rarity hesitated. “I’ve told you about my longtime dream to enter Canterlot high society, yes?” she asked. Frisk nodded in response. “Well... Being here is a chance for me to live my dream, if only for a moment. And I have been, to an extent, since there’s a unicorn named Fancy Pants who’s taken a liking to me, and he’s the most influential unicorn in Canterlot!” Rarity squealed. “But back to the subject at hoof, a human would be... well, a fairly exotic creature that might, ah... boost my popularity, if they knew I was closely associated with one.”

Frisk rolled their eyes. “So basically you need me as a tool to climb the social ladder,” they summarized. “And here I thought you wanted to spend some quality time with a friend,” they teased, winking. Rarity chuckled.

“It would make me very happy,” she explained. “I’d just like you to visit the Wonderbolts Derby at noon with me and look nice.”

“Hmm... I think I can just sit and look cute,” Frisk admitted after an exaggerated period of thinking. Rarity chuckled. “As long as you promise not to forget Twilight’s dress,” they reminded, gesturing at the mannequin on the other side of the room.

“Oh, don’t worry, darling! I will most certainly finish it by the party,” Rarity reassured Frisk. “Now, to the derby!”

An hour later, Frisk found themselves regretting their agreement to go with Rarity. High-class ponies and high-class aspirants fawned over them all morning until they finally got to the Derby, and even then they got the distinct feeling that some ponies were paying more attention to them than the race. They tried to ignore them in favor of the stunning aerial speed the Wonderbolts displayed in the skies ahead. As Frisk watched they almost instantly understood why Rainbow Dash yearned so much to join the team– the display of raw aerial skill was jaw-dropping. As the race drew to a close, the pegasus named Fleetfoot drew out a tiny lead for the victory, to Frisk and Rarity’s cheers.

“Bravo, Rarity!” Fancy Pants nodded approvingly. “I say, how did you know Fleetfoot would be victorious?” he asked.

“Ah, my friend Rainbow Dash talks about her all the time,” Rarity explained. “She says what Fleetfoot lacks in size, she makes up for in speed.”

“And who is this Rainbow Dash?” another pony, named Silver Frames if Frisk remembered correctly, asked.

“She’s an amazing pony and friend,” Frisk commented as Rarity gave an uncomfortable look. “She’s also a bit of an expert on the team’s history and statistics.”

“I believe she was, ah, asking Rarity, miss,” a third pony named Swan Song clarified. Frisk frowned.

“I believe I already explained to you that I’m not female,” they muttered.

“Well, you look vaguely female, so why does it matter?” the high-class pony huffed.

Frisk glared. “It matters to me. I endured a lot of abuse when I told my birth parents I didn’t feel like a girl,” they growled before slipping off Rarity’s back. “Rarity, thank you for the clothes and for inviting me, but I’m going to head back to Twilight because I am not going to sit around ponies who disregard such an important part of my identity,” they huffed with a pointed glare at the pony who’d misgendered them. They ran off to the castle to find Twilight, but as they went through the streets their anger faded, replaced by a sadness and a loneliness they hadn’t felt in a long time that somehow wasn’t long enough.

*Huh. Guess you and I are pretty similar, Frisk’s narrator said, breaking them out of their spiral. That’s why I ran to Mount Ebott. Because... nobody accepted me for who I was.

You went to Mt. Ebott? Frisk replied in surprise.

*...Yeah. Yeah, I did, their narrator admitted. *It’s... not something I thought was ever relevant. Plus, having conversations with you is kinda new.

Fair, Frisk admitted, out of their spiral, at least, but still upset.

Eventually Frisk reached Twilight’s room, where they found her and Spike talking with their other friends and a tall white unicorn.

“Oh, hey, Frisk!” Spike greeted when he noticed them.

“Hey,” Frisk mumbled with a forced smile.

Twilight noticed and frowned. “Are you feeling alright?” she asked, walking over to Frisk.

“Physically? I’m fine. But...” Frisk trailed off and looked down with a sigh. “Never mind. You wouldn’t get it.”

“Who’s this, Twily?” the stranger asked, drifting over.

“Oh, this is the human Frisk I told you about. Frisk, this is my brother, Shining Armor,” Twilight introduced.

“Nice to meet you,” Frisk nodded.

“Frisk, just tell me what happened, okay? I’ll at least try to understand, okay?” Twilight promised. The whole group had gathered by this point, concerned.

Frisk sighed. “It’s... Well, Rarity made a few friends in Canterlot’s high society and took me to a Wonderbolt’s race they had invited her to. She took me as... well, as a means of helping her climb the social ladder. That’s not what mattered, I’m fine with and even kinda used to being an anomaly and the center of attention, it’s just... one of the high-class ponies...” Frisk started crying as they tried to continue through the story. “Swan Song, I think? She used a female term to refer to me, and... she said it didn’t matter that I didn’t identify as a girl because I looked kinda like one even after reminded her t-that I told her that I wasn’t male or female, a-and...” Frisk couldn’t make it through any more before they started crying. “And i-it rem-reminded me of– of when my birth pa-parents hated me f-for coming out as non-no-nonbinary,” they choked out before gripping Twilight and sobbing. Fluttershy called for a group support hug and the six ponies and the dragon circled Frisk and hugged them.

When Frisk's tears finally abated and the hug released, Shining Armor frowned. “I’ve met Swan Song before. She’s snobbish, sure, but she also deeply cares about her own social standing. She wouldn’t risk alienating someone like you over something as petty as clothing colors, much less something as important as your gender. This requires investigation,” he muttered. “Here, why don’t I take you there and sort this situation out?” Shining Armor offered.

Frisk sighed and nodded. “If I get to make snarky comments at Swan Song,” they mumbled. Shining Armor chuckled in response before crouching a bit to let Frisk on. The pair trotted through the streets of Canterlot until they came across a very fearful Swan Song in a heated argument with Fancy Pants and the rest of his entourage, as well as Rarity. From the few bits Frisk gleaned before anyone noticed them and Shining Armor, they gathered that the others were mad at Swan Song for the way she acted toward Frisk.

“O-Oh, Captain!” Swan Song exclaimed, not having yet seen Frisk. “These ponies just began attacking me for no reason! I was just about to call the police!”

“Yeah, he isn’t gonna buy that excuse since I already told him how you treated me,” Frisk said flatly, leaning to one side so Swan Song could see them. They continued, “You uncultured, scum-eating, backwater, miserable excuse for a daughter of a snake.”

Rarity squeaked at the very creative insult. Frisk panted for a moment after releasing the pent-up rage.

*I... am very impressed that you managed all that without profanity, their narrator commented.

So am I, honestly, Frisk mentally replied. How would you rate the insult on a scale of 1-10?

*Ooh, that’s a tough one... Probably a solid 9. Would’ve been better if you’d also added an insult to her mom by implying adultery, their narrator decided.

I’m angry, not evil, Frisk retorted before turning their attention back to the audible conversation.

“I-I- How was I supposed to know that the human was so sensitive about it?” Swan Song stammered. “Plus, ponies don’t normally do that!”

Frisk caught a lime green shine in Swan Song’s normally blue eyes and frowned as Shining Armor started laying a case against her bogus claims, Silver Frames and the other unicorns occasionally chipping in with their own observations.

Can you check her stats? Maybe offer some kinda insight?

*Sure thing... Swan Song ATK 16 DEF 14 - This pony seems really shifty... Is she more than meets the eye, or less?

Frisk frowned. “Hey... Shining Armor?”

“Yes, Frisk?” he asked, turning his head slightly.

“So... I’ve got this ability called ‘Check’ that gives me some insight on someone’s stats,” they whispered, “and it also occasionally gives me a clue on how to resolve a potential battle with them peacefully when the voice in my head feels like it...”

*...No comment.

“Anyway, I just used it and it specifically mentioned that Swan Song seemed ‘shifty,’” Frisk murmured. “I wouldn’t have brought it up if it had ever been notably wrong in the past...”

Shining Armor frowned, but he couldn’t act upon this new information before Swan Song hissed. She’d heard Frisk.

“So, the little kid thinks they’ve got me all figured out, eh?” she chuckled, her voice distorting. “You don’t even know the threat you face. The Queen will come, and Her Majesty shall crush all you pathetic worms!”

Swan Song then vanished in a flash of lime green light, though oddly enough, a beetle scurried away from right beside the spot where she’d once stood. Frisk narrowed their eyebrows. Shining Armor looked up toward the palace.

“I must alert Princess Celestia of this. If any of you see something suspicious, report it to her or me as quickly as you can. I will instruct the guards to allow you through should you have relevant information. However, if you abuse my trust, I can promise there will be consequences,” he warned. After the others nodded, Shining Armor galloped first to Twilight’s room to drop Frisk off and explain what had just happened to his sister and then to the throne room to inform Celestia.

Aside from the lingering worry about what Swan Song’s words meant, the next two hours went largely as planned. Twilight gave Frisk an actual tour of her favorite places in Canterlot, which was mostly the donut parlor and the library, where Twilight remembered to return a somewhat overdue book and quickly paid what remained of the fine after the deduction for extenuating circumstances. Frisk giggled at Twilight’s embarrassment as she slipped the bits on the counter before hurrying out. Suddenly, Twilight was approached by a rather excited blue unicorn with an hourglass cutie mark.

“Heya, Twilight! Can’t believe you’re back in Canterlot!” she squealed excitedly. “Do ya remember me? I’m Minuette! We were classmates back in magic school!”

“Oh, yeah..!” Twilight nodded. “Um... I’m, uh... I’m really sorry for blowing you off on Moondancer’s party... I just kinda didn’t understand the point of friendship then.”

Minuette chuckled. “Hey, it’s fine! You remember Lyra Heartstrings, right? She moved to Ponyville right before the last Gala, if I remember right.”

Frisk shuddered. “I want to forget her,” they squeaked.

Twilight laughed. “Minuette, this is Frisk. They’re a human, and... well, you know how Lemon Hearts was when she managed to get an autographed edition of Daring Do and the Marked Thief of Marapore? Lyra was like that when she met Frisk, but a hundred times more intense, and probably would have caused actual bodily harm to Frisk if my friend Rainbow Dash and another pony named Bon Bon hadn’t stepped in.”

“Oh, I’ve met Bon Bon! She’s Lyra’s roommate or maybe marefriend... Yeah, that sounds like Lyra, though. Didn’t she have even better grades than you in the mythical creatures class?” Minuette pondered.

“...Maybe...” Twilight said, not daring to look at Frisk, who was giggling.

“Wow, Twilight second-best in a class? I’m surprised she didn’t blow up the classroom in frustration!” Frisk quipped. Twilight blushed.

“Um, how are the other three doing?” Twilight asked as she began walking beside Minuette. “Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and... Moon...dancer?”

“Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine are doing great!” Minuette chattered. “Moondancer... well... she hasn’t actually talked to any of us since... since her party. She actually seemed really disappointed when you didn’t come,” Minuette admitted. Twilight frowned.

“Maybe you could apologize?” Frisk offered.

Twilight nodded. “Where does Moondancer live again? I... kinda forgot. I haven’t been to Canterlot in a while,” she chuckled slightly.

“I’ll show ya!” Minuette beamed before galloping off. Frisk quickly readjusted for a better grip before Twilight darted after her. As Minuette rounded a corner with a lamppost, Frisk saw a hanging business sign and got a really dumb but also a really cool idea. They’d leap off Twilight’s back, swing on the sign, and then go around the post to land on Minuette’s back or at least get close. They quickly equipped the Tough Glove and steadied themselves.

*...I know what you’re thinking, and this is a REALLY dumb idea.

Yeah, but it’ll look cool.

*You’ve hung out with Papyrus and Rainbow Dash too much.

But it’ll look cool if I do it right.

*Whatever. Your injuries, not mine.

Frisk rolled their eyes and steeled themselves. It all happened at once. They leapt off Twilight’s back and shot up to grab the part of the sign that was just the metal rod, made a complete 360-degree flip, and released to swing to the lamppost, where they twisted to catch it and swung 90 degrees onto the other side of the sidewalk. Unfortunately, they couldn’t stick the landing and tumbled a ways forward, cringing and whimpering as rocks struck their body. They ended up a bruised, slightly bleeding mess and every movement was pain as they reached to grab a Nice Cream from their inventory. They felt the pain slowly leave their body as they managed to get the frozen treat into their mouth, but there wasn’t much they could do about the soreness.

*Told you it was a dumb idea, their narrator commented smugly.

Shut up. I don’t need the voice in my head criticizing me too.

Twilight sighed in exasperation as Frisk stood up with a sheepish grin. “What were you thinking? You could have had much more serious injuries from that!”

“Yeah, but... it at least looked cool until I hit the ground, right?” Frisk chuckled in the oh-crap-I’m-dead-maybe-if-I’m-funny-it’ll-be-painless kind of way.

Twilight sighed. “I will not respond either way,” she muttered. “Now come on, McNeighla Mareony.”

Frisk nodded and stumbled back onto Twilight’s back. Minuette had trotted back over once she realized what happened and was trying very hard not to laugh openly. She decided to take a much more moderate pace to Moondancer’s house.

“Hey, how’d you heal up so fast, by the way?” Minuette asked. “That looked like a pretty nasty fall.”

“Um... how to explain it...” Frisk mused. “Basically, I’ve got some food that has healing magic infused in it and most of it removes all injuries. Was really useful to have nearby when there were people attacking me to try and take my soul,” they chuckled wryly.

Minuette raised an eyebrow before shrugging. “Well, we’re almost there. The gate to her house is coming up.”

Twilight pinned her ears back.

“You okay, Twi?” Minuette asked.

“Just... nervous. What if Moondancer doesn’t forgive me? What if it’s too soon or too late?” Twilight worried.

“I’ll flirt her into submission!” Frisk declared playfully. “She’ll be so enamored with me she’ll forgive you as soon as I ask!”

Minuette snickered and Twilight rolled her eyes.

“What? It’s worked before,” Frisk giggled.

Twilight magically opened the gate and hesitantly knocked on the door.

“Nopony’s home!” a voice yelled from inside. Twilight frowned and knocked again.

“I’m not interested in Filly Scout cookies! Or going to the theater!” the voice yelled again. Twilight continued to knock.

“Ugh, fine, I’m coming!” the voice finally relented. The door opened to reveal a very disgruntled pale yellow unicorn with a red and purple mane and tail styled somewhat similar to Twilight’s wearing glasses and a thick sweater. “What do you... want...” she trailed off as she took in the scene.

“Hi, Moondancer,” Twilight sighed. “I... I wanted... I wanted to apologize for missing your party. Minuette said you seemed really disappointed when I wasn’t there, and–”

“Go away.”

“I...”

“Go. Away. What makes me think you’ve changed since then? How do I know you’re not just doing this to absolve a guilty conscience? You obviously didn’t care then, so why do you care now!?” Moondancer exploded.

“Well, I’d say she’s changed since she blew you off,” Frisk commented. “She accepted me as a friend without hesitation, even when she didn’t even know me.”

Moondancer sputtered. “You’re... a human. A living, breathing, talking, honest-to-Celestia human.”

“If you are going to question me about literally everything, let me know so I have a chance to run away,” Frisk deadpanned. “I do not need Lyra 2.0.”

Moondancer blinked. “Lyra? Lyra Heartstrings?”

Frisk nodded. “I’m still scared of mint green things.”

Moondancer couldn’t help snickering at the remark, but clammed up quickly. The walls were beginning to crack, though.

“But, I mean... if there’s something in particular you want to know, as long as you promise to let me breathe every few seconds, I could tell you,” Frisk offered.

Moondancer bit her lip.

“I already beat you to the punch on an official report on Frisk specifically, but I never actually questioned them about humans as a whole,” Twilight offered. “We could go to Donut Joe’s shop if you like and discuss it over donuts.”

That remark finally opened up Moondancer. She sighed and gazed into Twilight’s eyes. “I... well, ‘disappointed’ is an understatement. You... were always my idol in Celestia’s school. I just wanted to prove I was worthy of your friendship, and when you didn’t show up... it made me feel like you were saying I wasn’t worthy of your time or attention.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “...Oh. I... I never... I never could have... imagined you felt that way...”

Moondancer gave a tiny smile. “It’s... it’s alright now, Twilight. I... I think I forgive you. I mean, you brought a human to my doorstep. How could I not?” she chuckled.

“Hey, want me to get Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine?” Minuette offered. “Other than Lyra, we’d have the whole group back together!”

“And I am not allowing Lyra within a one-yard radius of me until I literally do not have a choice or she tames herself,” Frisk muttered. The ponies chuckled as Minuette skipped off to find her other friends and Moondancer and Twilight began chatting general nerd stuff and spells as they made their way to the donut parlor. As they passed the street where Shining Armor had confronted Swan Song, Frisk wondered what she had meant about the “Queen” and how the princesses would react.

As Twilight and her friends boarded the train back to Ponyville, Frisk found their answer. A magenta bubble encased Canterlot, which Twilight understood was her brother’s shield spell. The color bathed the train’s insides as it chugged out of the station, and Frisk felt for the heart locket.

*Frisk... stay DETERMINED, their narrator warned.

...I will.

Arc 1, Interlude 3: Anticipation

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Sclerite breathed a sigh of relief when she finally reached the changeling base. Her temper had almost gotten her to slip up and reveal more than she should have to the ponies. She buzzed into the heart of the base and identified herself to the guards at Queen Chrysalis’s door.
“Why have you returned so soon, Sclerite?” Chrysalis asked. “I believe your assignment was to remain until I gave direct news of the invasion date.”

“My apologies, Your Majesty, but I have a very important piece of information that required coming immediately... and I almost allowed my temper to break my cover,” Sclerite admitted. “But I must warn You... a new chess piece has entered the board. A human.”

Chrysalis blinked. “We will discuss your break of character later. For now... continue,” she commanded.

“A human has made its way into the good graces of the heroines You warned me of as well as the captain. It seems to have a power that allows it to tell if a pony is truly a pony, or one of your drones, my Queen,” Sclerite explained. “However, the human lives in Ponyville, not Canterlot, so Your plans may not be significantly altered should You manage to keep the human away from the capital until it is too late to do anything.”

“Your break in character is forgiven, my loyal drone,” Chrysalis commanded. “This information is far too valuable to merely disregard. A human... Guard!”

“Yes, Your Majesty?” a changeling guard asked after entering.

“Contact my drone in the Canterlot Library,” Chrysalis dictated. “Have him search his archives for any information on humans.”

“As You command, so shall it be,” the guard replied with a solemn bow.

“As for you, Sclerite... Hm. It is rather unfortunate that we will no longer be able to use Swan Song’s form. For now, I will have you return to the hive and guard the young,” Chrysalis said. Sclerite bowed and rushed out before Chrysalis could change her mind.

There was a specific reason Queen Chrysalis was not known for her merciful spirit.

❤︎

Shining Armor patrolled the walls surrounding the castle, his sharp eyes searching for any crack, crevice, or chip in the shield. Once satisfied it was all smooth, he recast the spell, strengthening the shield again. The clicking of horseshoes against the top of the wall suddenly filled his ears and he grinned. Shining Armor turned to the pink alicorn walking behind him and bowed his head.

“Captain,” she nodded.

“Princess,” he replied. Then he looked up and chuckled. “Is that the shield’s light on your face, or are you blushing?” he asked flirtatiously.
“Oh-ho!” Cadance giggled. “I can’t tell which is smoother, your flirting or my aunt’s mane,” she retorted.

Shining Armor laughed as he nuzzled his fiancée. “Celestia’s mane, probably. I like to think I’m good, but not as good as Twily says the human she’s taken under her metaphorical wing is.”
Cadance’s eyes widened. “A human? Please, tell me!” she begged.

“Well, their name was Frisk...” Shining Armor trailed off, telling Cadance about the drop-in from beyond Equestria that had saved Ponyville and alerted him to the threat against Equestria... or, well, caused the threat to reveal itself to him. Cadance chuckled at hearing Shining’s retelling of Twilight’s account of Frisk’s victory over Discord. At the same time, she pondered where he could be. Was he keeping his promise?

❤︎

“I am, in fact,” Discord chuckled, “a very talented knitter! Here, this is a scarf I made a few days ago.”

“Oh, how lovely!” Fluttershy exclaimed. She was very startled by Discord’s appearance an hour earlier, but when he revealed he had only been starved for company she welcomed him in for tea. The chaos god proved to be an excellent conversationalist, with a ton of knowledge on a lot of the subjects Fluttershy was passionate about– nature, exotic animals, even sewing and knitting. They’d spent the time rather pleasurably, and when Discord finally took his leave at sunset Fluttershy found herself hoping he’d return soon. Suddenly Frisk hurried up the path and gave her an invitation to Spike’s birthday party the next day. She instantly wrote “RSVP” on the paper and Frisk grinned before jogging back to the library.

Arc 1, Part 5: Birthday Tensions

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Author's Notes:

Hey all, I could not be more sorry for leaving you hanging for so long. Now, I have both good and bad news. The bad news is that I can't figure out how to write It's About Time so I'm probably going to scrap that chapter. The good news is that I have basically the entire emotional climax of A Canterlot Wedding for Frisk and especially Chara entirely mapped out PLUS some ideas on how to get another Undertale character, whose identity I will say nothing about other than that it isn't Sans, involved in the story. I'll put the Canterlot Wedding stuff below the line in spoilers if you're really interested.

Chrysalis begins draining Frisk's love and, in line with a headcanon I have that changelings can see memories strongly tied to their meal's love for a person, sees the memory of Asriel where he and Frisk are hugging and calls him pathetic. This causes Chara to completely snap and take over Frisk's body momentarily to give Chrysalis a well-deserved beatdown of both physical and verbal nature, revealing their identity to Frisk in the process. VERY excited to write this scene.

“What? No, I’m not washing that cheek,” Spike pouted, walking away from Twilight with an obvious attempt to keep her washcloth away from his cheek.

“Spike...” Twilight groaned. “It’s filthy, and you’re going to get it cleaned. Right. Now. Frisk, help me out,” Twilight pleaded.

“Hey, Frisk is on my side... Right?” Spike begged.

Frisk chuckled, barely looking up from their comic book. “Hm... I’m gonna stay neutral on this. Have fun!” they cackled mischievously. Spike’s face fell as Twilight raised the washcloth and he darted away, attempting to flee, but Twilight rolled her eyes as she teleported him back, only for Spike to run away. They repeated the maneuver several times until Twilight shot Spike behind her and slipped the washcloth on his cheek to rub all the grime and the kiss off.

Spike crossed his arms and grumbled as Frisk giggled and tossed him a party hat. Twilight pulled one out for herself and one for Frisk, in addition to hats for the other Element bearers.

Pinkie Pie was the first to arrive, popping out of one of the bookshelves and slipping on her party hat with a giggle and bearing a wrapped gift. Fluttershy appeared shortly after, carrying a present of her own, Rainbow Dash flew in with a dumbbell wrapped in a ribbon, and Applejack and Rarity finished off the group. They all cheered, “Happy birthday, Spike!” and offered him their presents. Frisk slipped out a slim box of their own and pushed it toward him.

“Thanks, everyone!” Spike grinned. “Um... what do I do with them?”

Frisk frowned. “Uh... open them?” they offered. “That’s kinda what you do with birthday presents?”

“Oh... yeah... Um... Yeah, Twilight usually just gives me one book for my birthday,” Spike muttered.

“Heh heh heh...” Twilight giggled, levitating said book behind her. “I’ll just be over here...”

Spike opened Frisk’s gift first to pull out a hand-drawn comic book with a familiar character on the cover.

“Woah, this looks amazing, Frisk!” he chattered excitedly.

“I started drawing it after our first O&O session once I started getting an idea of Garbunkle’s character. The comic’s sort of an origin story I made up about how he got his magic and started gaining the respect of everyone around him,” Frisk explained.

“This looks amazing, Frisk!” Spike breathed. “Definitely gonna look at it later!”

“Wait, so you love it when Frisk gives you a book, but when I give you one you complain?” Twilight muttered.

“Yeah... but... pictures,” Spike mumbled. Frisk and the ponies giggled in response. Applejack pushed her green box over and Spike pulled out an apple-printed blanket and grinned. “Thanks, Applejack, this looks amazing!”

“Y’all are quite welcome,” Applejack nodded. “Ah figure since fall’s comin’ up soon it might be good to get y’all somethin’ warm... though Ah suppose y’all are a dragon. I s’pose y’all may not actually need it with y’all’s... fire breath ‘n’ all.”

“Hey, I appreciate it anyway!” Spike assured. “Besides, sometimes it’s cold enough that I need both a blanket and my fire breath.”

“Here, Spike, I know you said you accidentally burned your pillow a little while ago, and some of my bird friends were kind enough to give me their molted down feathers to make you a new one!” Fluttershy offered. A thick, fluffy pillow was pulled from the box to Spike’s delight.

He laid on the pillow to test it out and sighed in contentment. “This is... so amazing... I’m never getting up...”

“Well, ya gotta get up to get the present the Cakes made for you, silly!” Pinkie giggled.

Spike pushed himself up reluctantly and grabbed the slip of paper Pinkie offered him while he blew the dust off his scales. “Uh... thanks for the dumbbell, Rainbow,” he offered. “What’s your present, Rarity?”

“Ah... Well, your gift of the fire ruby to me inspired me so to create something to go along with it! So, I present... my new line of taffeta capes!” Rarity announced, pulling out a light magenta cloak and a small green one. “This green one is for you, Spikey-Wikey!”

"Thanks, Rarity! It looks amazing!" Spike sighed. "Well, I'm gonna go see what the Cakes have for me. Thank you for the gifts, everyone!”

The ponies nodded with smiles and Frisk flashed Spike a thumbs-up before going back to read the comic book they didn’t make.

❤︎

The next morning, Frisk awoke with a satisfied yawn. They rubbed their eyes and grinned as Celestia’s morning sun shone on their face before noticing an absence. Their hand flew to their neck to check before they looked around their bed to make sure it hadn’t fallen off in their sleep. They started panicking when they couldn’t find the Heart Locket and they rushed to look out in the main room when they heard a crash. An enormous pile of books, maps, and various items that hadn’t been attached to the ground sat on the floor in front of Twilight’s bed.

Before Frisk could ask what was going on, Spike crawled out clutching a globe and hissing at Twilight, taller and lankier than he should be.

“Frisk! Thank Celestia you’re awake! I don’t know what’s gotten into Spike, he’s just grabbing whatever he can carry and won’t let me get any of it!” Twilight sputtered.

“My locket’s gone, too!” Frisk cried. A sudden glint hit their eyes as the sun bounced off the golden chain of the locket. Frisk hurried up the stairs and went to grab it from Spike’s pile, but they were interrupted by a swipe of his claws and a guttural noise of anger erupted from his throat.

“DON’T TOUCH!” he demanded.

“Spike... that’s my locket...” Frisk murmured. “I just...”

“DON’T! TOUCH!” Spike yelled, slapping their hand down when they reached for it.

Frisk felt hurt and incredibly betrayed. “Spike. Just give me the–”

“MINE!” Spike screamed, shoving Frisk away.

Frisk started getting legitimately angry, and they stepped forward, their soul materializing. They repeated, more firmly this time, “Spike, I just want...”

Spike’s eyes bugged out as he saw Frisk’s soul. “Shiny... Want...” he murmured, a green shine coating his eyes as he gazed at it. He reached out in an attempt to grab Frisk’s soul and managed to clasp his claws around it.

Frisk cried in pain as 5 HP of damage was dealt and self-defense kicked in. The Tough Glove materialized on their fist as it swung toward Spike and planted itself on his chest. He gasped in pain as half his HP was lost and his grip on Frisk’s soul faded. The green shine left his eyes and he shrunk down to his normal size. When Frisk realized what they had done, they bolted out the door after grabbing the locket from Spike’s pile, tears streaking their eyes.

Spike gazed at his claws and whimpered. “I... I didn’t mean to... I don’t know what got into me,” he squeaked. “I... Agh, that really hurt... Twilight, what do I do?” he begged.

Twilight frowned. “I think the best thing we can do is figure out what happened to you so we know how to deal with any... relapses, and then... and then I think you should apologize,” she offered. “I’m gonna teleport us to Canterlot. Hopefully, Princess Celestia will know what’s going on,” Twilight murmured before zapping herself and Spike to the castle courtyard. She allowed Spike a moment to climb on her back and herself another to recover before galloping to the nearest guard. “Hello, sir, my name is Twilight Sparkle and I’m Princess Celestia’s protege. I need to speak with her, do you know where I can find her?” she asked.

The guard regarded her sternly. “My apologies, miss, but I’m under strict orders to only allow those directly approved by Captain Shining Armor to approach the princess. I will have to escort you from the castle unless you have definitive proof of the captain’s approval,” he apologized.

Twilight sighed. “I understand. Well, thank you for your ti–”

“Twilight!” a warm voice called. “It’s been so long!”

“Cadance?” Twilight gasped. “Is that you?”

“It’s so wonderful to see you!” Cadance confirmed, trotting over to Twilight and the guard. “Thank you for your diligence, Officer, but know that Miss Twilight and her dragon friend Spike here are to be allowed in at any time.”

“Ah, of course, Princess Cadenza. I will take note of this in the future,” the guard replied with a bow before allowing the mares some privacy.

“I haven’t seen you in years!” Twilight laughed as she gave her former foalsitter an earnest hug. “What brings you to Canterlot?”

“Well, my wedding’s coming up soon and Aunt Tia offered to officiate the proceedings here,” Cadance explained.

“You’re getting married?” Twilight exclaimed. “Who’s the lucky stallion?”

“Didn’t Shining Armor tell you?” Cadance asked in confusion. “I would have thought it would’ve come up at least on your birthday.”

“Wait... You’re saying... You’re getting married to... my brother?” Twilight gaped.

“He didn’t tell you, did he?” Cadance sighed.

“Nope,” Spike muttered. “Twilight, why don’t we go figure out what’s happening to me first, and then you can chew your brother out?” he offered.

“Let’s... do that...” Twilight relented. “Do you know where Princess Celestia is?”

“Oh, um... Last time I saw her, she was... Let’s see, down that hall, take the first right, and she should be in the room behind the tenth door to your left,” Cadance remembered.

“Thanks, Cadance!” Twilight smiled before following said directions.

Once Twilight was out of sight, Cadance turned to look for a guard to assign back to the door, but a hoof tapped on her back. She was faced with a mirror image of herself when she turned and staggered back in confusion. The pony in front of Cadance was a perfect replica of her, except...

The pony had malicious, slitted, startlingly green eyes. A green glow encapsulated Cadance’s replica to reveal a buglike equine with a hole-peppered horn and legs. “Shh...” the shapeshifter’s harmonized voice murmured. “Stay quiet, and this will be easier, Princess...”

A powerful spell put Cadance to sleep, and Queen Chrysalis dragged the princess via teleport to the Canterlot caves so none would find her until it was too late. Then the changeling queen redonned her costume and reappeared in Cadance’s place. Phase One of the invasion was complete.

❤︎

In Celestia’s room, Twilight and Spike finished explaining the last half hour’s events to Celestia.

“Well, I can say that this is not an unknown phenomenon among dragons,” Celestia sighed. “I should have told you sooner, but I hoped that his youth might pass without such an incident. In simplest terms, a dragon’s growth can be accelerated by greed. Remember the dragon who blew smoke over Ponyville?” Celestia asked, eliciting a nod from Twilight. “Most dragons will not grow much larger than I, but his size had been exponentially increased by his need to increase his hoard. By his greed.”

“So... Spike could’ve grown that large if left unchallenged?” Twilight realized.

“And it may have been permanent if he was not confronted soon enough,” Celestia confirmed. “But... where did Frisk go?”

“I’m not sure. We teleported away right after Spike recovered from... well, from being punched,” Twilight explained. “We didn’t really take any time to look for Frisk... I hope they’re okay. They seemed pretty upset.”

“Well, take the next train back. Since Spike has returned to normal, he shouldn’t have any more episodes,” Celestia decided, “but contact me or Luna immediately if he does.”

“Sure thing, Princess,” Twilight nodded before putting Spike on her back and galloping out to the station to catch the next train.

❤︎

Saying Frisk was upset would be the understatement of the decade. They sat in the ruins of the courtyard of the Castle of the Two Sisters cradling their knees with a broken expression on their tear-streaked face. Their narrator was making an attempt to be soothing but wasn't having much progress.

*C'mon, Frisk, it's not that bad. You didn't hurt him permanently, and it wasn't intentional. I'm sure he's already forgiven you, they reasoned.

Frisk couldn't find a logical retort, so they just resorted to a reply of Just let me feel bad, okay?

*Sure, their narrator chuckled.

The pseudo-lecture had made Frisk feel slightly better, and they were mentally preparing to leave and face Spike and Twilight before the tapping of hooves passed the entrance. Frisk peeked out to find an equine patterned a great deal like a zebra.

“...Hello,” Frisk offered.

The zebra stepped back, startled, and took a thorough look at Frisk before looking like they decided Frisk wasn’t an immediate threat. "Greetings... Many creatures I have met, but one like you I've not seen yet," they said in an almost hypnotically even voice.

“I’m a human,” Frisk explained. “My name’s Frisk. You?”

"I am Zecora, but, little Frisk, to enter this forest was quite a risk," Zecora rhymed. “What brought you then, to a place such as here? Was it curiosity, or perhaps was it fear?”

Frisk sighed. “I... I accidentally hurt one of my friends without thinking and I... just needed some time alone with my thoughts.”

“I understand, it truly is hard, for hurting a friend turns one’s heart to shards,” Zecora nodded.

*This isn’t a poem, right? What’s with the rhyming? Frisk’s narrator muttered.

"Who is the owner of this new voice I hear?” Zecora asked. “This voice is muted, yet still quite clear."

“...You can hear them?” Frisk asked. “They’re my narrator slash personal ghost friend.”

*Well... you’re... not explicitly wrong, I guess.

Zecora blinked. “My apologies, but say that again? Did you say they were your ghostly friend?”

“Well, I assume they’re a ghost based on a few things I know and they’ve let on. Still haven’t learned their name, but I mean...” Frisk trailed off, hopeful that their narrator would reveal their name.

*Frisk, you’re not getting my name. It... doesn’t really matter... Not anymore.

“Never mind then!” Frisk chuckled.

Zecora joined Frisk’s laughter. “Well, it seems you two are quite good friends. Just... get home before the day ends. Creatures prowl when the sky turns black, and your size would make you an... enticing snack.”

“Understood. It was nice meeting you, Zecora!” Frisk smiled.

“And you as well,” Zecora nodded before trotting off into the forest, occasionally stopping to pick a root or vine and slip it into a basket. After Frisk took a moment to gather their thoughts and joke with their narrator a bit, they sighed and walked off to find functioning civilization again.

That plan failed spectacularly when a pair of timberwolves started chasing them. They got a distinct impression of deja vu from memories of their fight with Undyne– running for their life through a heavily natural area with a great deal of undergrowth being not how they wanted to spend their morning. The major difference was that these wolves were fast and ruthless. Undyne’s armor had at least slowed her down and she could be reasoned with slightly to weaken her attacks, but the timberwolves were animals, operating on pure, bloodthirsty instinct. Frisk was only barely faster than the wolves but had a great deal less stamina, and their legs started giving out before sudden flashes of orange and yellow whizzed by them toward the timberwolves. Frisk paused and turned around, quickly gathering that Applejack and Fluttershy had heard the wolves and Frisk’s cries of fear and came to help. Applejack was being typically tough and nimble, but Fluttershy was almost unrecognizable from the timid mare once scared of her own shadow. She was vicious in her attacks and Frisk was momentarily concerned that Fluttershy had been replaced.

Frisk urgently pleaded, Narrator, check Fluttershy because–

*Don’t worry, already on it, their narrator reassured. Fluttershy ATK 2 DEF 5 - Just Fluttershy, only she’s mad and defensive. Try not to invoke this side of her against you.

You’re telling me, Frisk half-smiled while watching. Eventually the wolves were turned to piles of sticks that began to glow green by the time Fluttershy and Applejack made sure Frisk was okay and they had the sense to hurry back to Fluttershy’s cottage before the wolves could fully re-form.

“What in tarnation were y’all doin’ in the Everfree?” Applejack demanded. “Y’all know it ain’t safe!”

“Applejack has a point,” Fluttershy pointed out.

Frisk bit their lip and rubbed their arms. “I... I just needed some time to think. Something weird happened with Spike that made him start taking anything not attached to the floor and that included my locket and I... I accidentally hurt him when he wouldn’t give it back so... I just ran,” Frisk tearfully admitted. “Sat in the Castle of the Two Sisters for a while until I met a zebra named Zecora and then when I started heading back the whole timberwolf thing happened.”

Fluttershy offered Frisk a hug. “So, what did you think of Zecora?”

“You know Zecora?” Frisk asked.

Flutterhy and Applejack nodded. “We all used to be, ah... a little scared of her, but Apple Bloom got us on friendly terms a bit before y’all came to Equestria,” Applejack explained.

“Huh. Well, she was pretty nice. Spoke in rhyme, and... er, well, yeah, she was nice,” Frisk nodded, electing not to talk about how Zecora could actually hear their narrator, considering Applejack and Fluttershy didn’t know about them. “Um... Well, I should probably go check on Twilight and Spike... I guess.”

“See you soon,” Fluttershy replied with a grin. “Don’t get attacked by timberwolves on your way out.”

“I don’t plan to,” Frisk chuckled.

❤︎

Twilight and Spike were about to leave in search of Frisk when they showed up at the library with an incredibly regretful look on their face.

“Hey, Spike... I’m...” Frisk started, but couldn’t finish before Spike squeezed them in a hug.

“I’m so sorry, Frisk! I couldn’t control my greed and I never should’ve taken your locket!” Spike sputtered out.

Frisk offered a tiny smile and embraced their friend. “I thought I was the one supposed to apologize,” they murmured. “I was the one who punched you.”

“Yeah, but... I took your locket and I grabbed your soul. And it’s not your fault you defended yourself,” Spike reasoned.

“Heh... Maybe. Maybe not. But... is it gonna happen again?” Frisk asked.

“Princess Celestia says it probably won’t, but I do plan to keep a close eye on him just in case,” Twilight promised.

“You know... after running from timberwolves, I’m tired,” Frisk decided. “I’m gonna take a nap, wake me up when lunch is ready,” they murmured, stumbling to their bed.

Arc 1, Part 6A: A Mystery Afoot, er... Hoof

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Spike began coughing out smoke as he threw his gaze away from his and Frisk’s O&O game.

“Le... Letter!” he exclaimed between coughs. Frisk hurriedly made a note of their game’s progress and pulled Spike to the location Twilight had told them her picnic would be. They had been very grateful that Rainbow and Applejack had been helping them do some general workouts to keep them in decent shape, but apparently “decent shape” had become “really good runner” without them noticing.

They stumbled to a stop when they reached the picnic and Spike slammed into them, letting him finally burp the two letters out.

“Twilight... I’ve got... letters...” he panted out.

Twilight opened the smaller scroll first and read its contents aloud.

“Twilight Sparkle, Rarity Belle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike Velvet, and Frisk Dreemurr, you are cordially invited to the wedding of Captain Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza on Sunday, the fifth of Lunaria, in the year A.E. 1001,” she read, then looked up at her friends.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is my old foalsitter, Cadance,” Twilight explained before moving on to the second scroll.

“Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot.”

“Well, I’m slightly disgruntled that Shining Armor never told me he was engaged to Cadance, but otherwise I’m excited. He couldn’t have made a better match, honestly,” Twilight admitted.

“I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to provide the music for the ceremony.”

“How wonderful!” Fluttershy interjected. “I would absolutely love to!”

“Pinkie Pie, there are few in Equestria more qualified than you to host the reception, so I would like you to put it together.”

“Abso-posi-tively! I’m gonna give Princess My Amber Cabana the best wedding party she’s ever seen!” Pinkie giggled. Frisk whispered Cadence’s actual name into Pinkie’s ear. “Er, I’m gonna give it to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. My Amber Cabana isn’t a princess!” she amended.

“Applejack, you will be in charge of the catering for the event. I look forward to the wedding cake.”

“Hoo-wee! I’ll give the princess a cake her tongue ain’t ever gonna forget!” Applejack confirmed.

“Rainbow Dash, I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a sonic rainboom as the bride and groom complete their "I do"'s.”

“Ha! You bet I’ll perform one!” Rainbow chuckled, twirling in the air.

“Rarity, your responsibilities with consist of designing and sewing the bridal party’s attire, including that of yourself and your friends.”

“I get to design... the dresses... for a princess’s wedding!?” Rarity squealed joyfully.

“Frisk, Shining Armor has told me about your ability to discern if a pony has honest motives or not. I would like you to aid in the wedding’s security in addition to acting as ringbearer.”

“Wow, I’d be honored! For both!” Frisk chuckled.

“Spike, I would appreciate if you accepted the role of flower... colt? Dragonling? I’m sure you understand my meaning.”

“No worries, I got it!

“And as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all: Making sure that everything goes as planned. See you all very soon. Yours, Princess Celestia.”

“Spike, a letter, please?” Twilight requested. Frisk handed him a pencil and some paper from their inventory before walking off to text the news to their friends and family. Twilight began dictating her response to Spike.

“Dear Princess Celestia, I have spoken with my friends, and we’ve all agreed that we would be delighted to perform the duties you’ve requested. We will see you this upcoming Monday riding the noon train. Yours truly, Twilight Sparkle.”

❤︎

The train ride that Monday was largely uneventful. Frisk and Spike slept through most of the ride, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack bounced ideas off each other for how to coordinate their responsibilities and make a unified theme for the wedding, and Rainbow wasn’t actually on the train, opting to practice and build up some strength for her stunt at the wedding. It all let Twilight be alone with her thoughts. She had time to sink into worry about her brother, and if the shield would hold properly or even matter at all in the end, because Celestia had broken one of her own rules: Never saddle a child with an important task.

Celestia had given Frisk; who, if a year for Frisk's world was the same length as one for Equestria, was barely older than the CMCs; the task of helping Shining Armor with the security of a royal wedding. And that meant Celestia either had zero regard for Frisk’s well-being or safety, or that she was scared and very, very desperate. Twilight was willing to assume that it was the latter, which terrified her on a very deep level. Celestia, the mare who had ruled Equestria for more than a millennium, who had faced all manner of terrifying monsters and tyrants and pseudo-gods in her lifetime, who had been through international wars, was scared of a threat that wouldn’t even make itself known. She forced herself to focus on something else before she went through a full-blown panic attack and her mind switched to brooding over the fact that she'd had to hear about the wedding from Cadance and not from her own brother.

Eventually, Rarity slipped a look over at Twilight and noticed her spiral. The white unicorn slipped over and nudged Twilight. "Are you feeling alright, darling?" Rarity asked once she had Twilight's attention.

"I'm just... worried," Twilight sighed. "I'm annoyed at Shining Armor for not telling me about the wedding before now, I'm worried about the 'Queen' that Swan Song was talking about..."

"Twilight, everything will turn out okay," Rarity promised. "I'm sure once you get into your organization groove your worries will positively melt away!"

"I really hope so, Rarity," Twilight admitted.

❤︎

"Cadance" strutted the halls of Canterlot's castle with a casual smirk. Guards bowed quickly at her approach until she passed by completely, at which point they would try to let out a stealthy sigh of relief that she heard nine times out of ten. The best part was nopony had dared to mention it for various reasons.

Shining Armor stood aimlessly at the balcony until he heard "Cadance's" hoofsteps approach. "Hello, dearest," he hummed jovially. "What brings you to this part of the castle?"

"Cadance" faked a look of pity and neediness. "Oh, I just wanted to make sure you weren't working yourself too hard. I'd hate to have to postpone our ceremony because you were too tired," she sighed.

Shining Armor chuckled dreamily, a faint green tint coating his irises. "Oh, you needn't worry about that, love," he sighed wistfully. "Nothing will get in the way of our special day."

"Perfect," the royal giggled with a grin that teetered on the verge of menacing. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

❤︎

"I've got to get out," the imprisoned alicorn cried, tears running over her mud-coated cheeks. "I've got to save Shiny, and Aunt Tia, and... Oh, Twilight, I hope you can stop her... Before it's too late..."

Frisk gasped as they awoke, sweating from their dream.

*Frisk, you okay? their narrator asked.

"I dunno," Frisk mumbled just too quietly for the ponies to hear. "Had a really unnerving dream and I dunno what to make of it."

*Maybe it's nothing, their narrator suggested. *At least, I hope so.

"You and me both," Frisk sighed, leaning their head on the windowsill.

The train slowly pulled up to Canterlot, passing through Shining Armor's defensive spells without a hitch. Frisk and Twilight simultaneously breathed sighs of relief as the station entered their respective fields of vision. Guards standing at the train station opened the door and analyzed each passenger at the exits. Rainbow Dash pinned her ears back and shuddered once she was out of the eyesight and earshot of the guards. "Those guys make me nervous," she muttered. "Even if I know why they're here..."

"Everything makes me nervous, so I can't really say much," Fluttershy replied with a smile, to the amusement of her friends. Spike quickly slipped onto Twilight's back and Frisk did the same to Applejack as the group approached the castle. Light banter shot between Rarity and Applejack over Rarity's insistence on prettying up and Applejack's planned total lack of ornamentation at the wedding. Frisk raised a very interested eyebrow as the shipping potential raced through their mind. All thoughts of such ceased, though, as the group came up to Shining Armor's imposing form.

Looks of alarm flashed over Twilight and Spike's faces when Shining Armor met them with a cold, dispassionate stare that quickly cleared when he saw their fear.

"Twily! Spike! It's good to see you all got here safely!" he beamed. "Sorry if I scared you a bit, I kinda have to look imposing to get some of these guards to actually do their jobs," he admitted while embracing his sister.

"Where's Cadance?" Twilight asked.

"She's taking a nap. Wedding planning has taken a toll on her," Shining Armor sighed. "The whole attack situation hasn't helped at all, since it's been dragging me away from her."

"Aw, well, Ah hope we can ease some o' her worries," Applejack replied. "Least the princess ain't gonna hav'ta deal wit' anything but the guest list an' the ceremony once we get started."

An affirmative grunt rose from the rest of the ponies, Spike, and Frisk.

Suddenly, the princess in question strutted from a nearby circle. Princess Cadance cast a haughty look at the newly arrived ponies and dragon but Frisk noticed a wariness surrounding the princess when they met her gaze.

Alarm bells rang and Frisk flashed a message of Yo, narrator-

The gist of the reply Frisk got was *Yes got it I am CHECKing this snob right now, Frisk, and here it is... Princess Mi Amore Cadenza - ATK 120 DEF 60 LV... 7... - This princess must have gotten her position confused. What's she doing with acronyms?

Frisk squinted at Princess Cadance, trying to find a blatant giveaway that would allow them to Phoenix Wright their way into figuring out her deal, but she had switched to a perfectly pleasant expression in the time it took for Frisk's narrator to check her.

"Welcome to Canterlot!" she cried sweetly. "I'm so very grateful that you all took time out of your schedules to help me plan my wedding! It's been so stressful trying to manage everything while my Shiny deals with whatever threat is coming."

"Well, we can abso-posi-tively help you out, Princess!" Pinkie exclaimed. "You've got the best band of wedding planners you could ask for!"

"M-Maybe not the best planners," Fluttershy amended, "but I'm sure we'll be able to give you a lovely wedding!"

"Mhm," Frisk mumbled casually. "Sure thing."

"Are you alright, Frisk?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You don't sound like yourself..."

"Oh, uh... I'm just tired, trains make me sleepy," Frisk bluffed.

"Ah! That reminds me," Shining Armor realized. "Lieutenant Stone?"

A cream-colored pegasus stallion in shining golden armor trotted up and stood at attention, saluting Shining Armor with a wing. "Yes, sir?" he replied.

"Please show my sister and her friends to the rooms prepared for their stay at once," Shining Armor commanded.

"Yes, sir!" the lieutenant replied emphatically before walking over to help the Ponyvilleans.

"Twily, do you mind meeting up with me later?" Shining Armor asked. "I've got something I want to talk to you about in private."

"Sure thing!" Twilight shot back with a nod before following Lieutenant Stone with the rest of her friends.

❤︎

Frisk collapsed on their bed with a defeated sigh.

*Do you want to talk about it? their narrator asked.

Frisk sighed. "The problem is that there isn't much to talk about. She's... really snobbish for the so-called Princess of Love, but there's no evidence to prove she's not right other than the check, and... well, at that point it's her reputation against a bad feeling and I don't really think I have a chance of winning that argument. At the same time, though... I think I'm as worried as I am because of the dream I had on the train ride here."

*What was it about? their narrator asked.

Frisk sighed and rubbed their eyes. "There was a pink alicorn trapped somewhere dark, probably in a cave and she was crying about needing to save her Aunt Tia and Shiny, and hoping Twilight could stop some female being."

*Pink alicorn like Princess Cadance? their narrator suggested.

"Yeah," Frisk nodded. "Very Princess Cadance pink. I-"

Frisk was interrupted by a harsh knock at their door. They opened to find a solemn-faced guard staring them down. "The Princess Mi Amore Cadenza requests your presence," he dictated.

"Um... any reason?" Frisk asked nervously.

"She did not say, and I did not ask," the guard replied stiffly. "She is waiting for you in the castle library."

Frisk nodded and slipped the Worn Dagger into their back pocket for safety once the guard was out of sight before heading to the library with a SOUL full of determination.

Princess Cadance met them in the history section of the library with a honeysuckle smile. "It's very nice to finally meet you, Frisk."

"Thank you, Princess. What did you need?" Frisk asked.

"Well, I just... couldn't help noticing you were giving me some really wary looks when you and your friends arrived, and I wanted to know why," the princess explained.

"Oh, it's just..." Frisk trailed off, attempting to think of a convincing enough half-truth. "Well, I had a weird dream on the train ride and it was hard to separate what I saw in the dream from real life."

"Oh? What kind of dream?" Princess Cadance asked.

"It probably doesn't matter," Frisk assured her. "I'm not known for prophetic dreams or precognitive abilities or anything like that. At most I can guess what someone is like based on their body language and tones of voice."

"Oh, I see!" Princess Cadance exclaimed with a hint of relief. "Well, that's all, so you can go whenever you like."

"Actually, I was thinking I'd stay here now that I'm here..." Frisk said. "I'd like to learn some about Equestria's history, maybe some of the enemies... You know, since part of the reason I was invited was to help Shining Armor with the threat and if it's an old enemy resurfacing, it could only help to read about all of them so I can help figure out how best to defend if the attack comes while I'm here."

"That sounds good," Princess Cadance replied with a grin before trotting out.

Frisk made good on their research, learning about the enemies of Equestria's past- the dark ram Grogar, Equestria's first emperor, the magic-stealing centaur Tirek, the hauntingly beautiful Sirens, the bitter alicorn Nightmare Moon, and Discord- as well as its past heroes, like the Pillars of Unity and the three ponies who had united the tribes at the first Hearth's Warming Eve. Frisk lost themselves in the volumes of material stored in the library until their narrator started commentating on every movement of anything in their line of sight. At that point, Frisk decided in was in their best interest to take a small break and go for a walk around the castle.

The smells from the kitchen where Applejack was preparing a sample menu for Princess Cadance drew them first and they found Twilight overseeing it.

"So, what have you been doing this afternoon, Frisk?" Twilight asked as the two of them watched Applejack putting her reflexes through the wringer to get multiple recipes cooked simultaneously.

"Mostly research," Frisk replied over the sound of their growling stomach. "Figured if I'm gonna be here to... Uh, sorry, to help your brother with defense it might be good for me to know what kinds of enemies Equestria has had in the past in case it's someone returning."

"I mean, the fact that we've had two threats from a thousand years ago return for revenge in, like, the last few months gives very ample reason to think that," Twilight pointed out. "Also, you sound hungry."

"Can you blame me?" Frisk chuckled lightly. "Those apple fritters smell like heaven."

Twilight shrugged. "You've got a point," she replied before Princess Cadance walked in. Applejack bowed, but Twilight met Princess Cadance with a beaming smile. "I'm glad you got some rest, Cadance!" Twilight fawned. "You look a lot less tired."

"I probably should've told you this already, Twilight Sparkle," Princess Cadance huffed, "but only Shining Armor and Aunt Celestia are allowed to not use a title when addressing me."

"Uh... okay..." Twilight frowned. "You never made me use a title when you foalsat me... Princess Cadance..."

"Well, yes, but you were also, what, six or seven?" Princess Cadance reasoned. "I wasn't about to make a filly upset over something like that."

Twilight seemed about to accept this idea before a spark of realization entered her eyes.

"Okay, but you were completely fine with me just calling you 'Cadance' when I met you a few weeks ago," Twilight challenged. "There was even a guard there."

Princess Cadance momentarily blanched before quickly recovering. "Oh, you're absolutely right. I'm so sorry, it's just been a hectic few days," she explained sweetly. "I've had to reinforce my status with a number of rowdy guards and ambassadors, and it just kind of... how do I phrase it? I suppose I just kind of internalized it."

Frisk summoned their practiced neutral gaze as Twilight tried to work through her conflicted feelings. "Okay, I guess that makes sense... Well, I'll leave you and Applejack to puzzling out the menu. Frisk, you mind coming with me for a bit?" she asked.

"Sure thing, Twilight," Frisk replied, relieved at the chance to get away from Princess Cadance.

After a largely silent walk to Frisk's room, Frisk and Twilight shared a look of concern.

"Something isn't right," Twilight insisted to Frisk's agreement. "That is not Cadance's usual demeanor, and wedding stress isn't a valid enough excuse for me to ignore it."

Frisk nodded. "For a princess of love... she's got too much LOVE," they murmured. At Twilight's look of confusion they decided they should explain. "LOVE, in addition to its normal use, is a acronym in my world meaning Level of Violence. It's a way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt, and Cadance's is at a full seven."

"I assume the higher it is, the more willing somepony is to hurt or kill somepony else?" Twilight asked.

Frisk nodded. "Yeah, that's correct. The thing is... from what I understand, someone's LOVE only increases if they gain EXP... which stands for Execution Points."

"...So that means Cadance has... hurt somepony? Multiple someponies?" Twilight realized in shock.

"At the very least," Frisk confirmed. "And... well, I had a really weird dream on the train," they confessed. "There was a pink alicorn who looked a lot like Cadance, just... with a lot more mud caked on her body... saying that she needed to save her Aunt Tia and Shiny. I'm assuming those are her names for Princess Celestia and Shining Armor."

"I remember her calling Princess Celestia 'Aunt Tia,' yes," Twilight confirmed. "And calling my brother 'Shiny' isn't too much of a stretch to understand."

"I didn't think a whole lot of it at first other than just being generally unnerved," Frisk admitted, "since I'm not really known for having prophetic or precognitive dreams, but now... I can't stop thinking about it."

"Where was the alicorn in your dream?" Twilight asked, grabbing a notepad.

"Some kind of cave, I think? It was definitely dark, and there were a lot of rocks, but other than that..." Frisk trailed off before shrugging. "I couldn't tell."

"That doesn't narrow it down a lot," Twilight eventually decided, "but I've heard stories about a forgotten system of caverns beneath Canterlot. If we get a break before the wedding then I'll get us down there to check."

"Sounds good," Frisk sighed. "I need a nap after all this. You go and meet up with the rest of your friends for preparation updates and I guess keep notes on all of Cadance's suspicious behavior."

"Hopefully there won't end up being a reason to," Twilight fretted.

Arc 1, Part 6B: Love's Undying Power

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The next few days passed surprisingly uneventfully on the Princess Cadance mystery front, invasion front, and the wedding planning front. Princess Cadance continued being a bridezilla, demanding perfection in everything her planners did and changing things on a whim, but only Twilight and Frisk were worried or suspicious at first. Twilight was constantly kept busy with planning and supervising and Frisk took regular walks with Shining Armor to patrol the defenses and attempt to determine suspicious activity. After witnessing some of their interactions, Twilight mentioned to Frisk that Shining Armor seemed more clearheaded anytime he was around them and Frisk agreed once they saw him talking with Princess Cadance. Three days before the wedding, Fluttershy came to Twilight with worries about Princess Cadance's attitude after the princess yelled at one of Fluttershy's birds for being just a hair too low on one note of the song and Twilight revealed her and Frisk's worries and suspicions. The evidence placed Fluttershy firmly on Twilight's side in the matter and she began probing her memories of every interaction she'd had with Princess Cadance for anything that stuck out. Rainbow Dash was the next to grow wary that evening when she witnessed Princess Cadance being really snippy with Pinkie Pie over her choice of streamer colors.

As Twilight noted each encounter, she eventually gathered enough evidence to present a decent case to Princess Celestia, but she felt that she needed a clincher to remove any doubt that something was horribly wrong with Princess Cadance. Frisk suggested following up on the contents of their train dream and Twilight agreed that would be sensible. Rainbow and Fluttershy were instructed to present the evidence to Spike, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie while Twilight and Frisk searched for the caves. Frisk used their raw determination to probe the area around Canterlot for save points, an ability they'd picked up late in their journey through the Underground and actually managed to find a few they hadn't known about before. Two were at the doorways to shops they hadn't visited before, one was located at the highest floor of the castle, and all but one of the others were improbable locations for the entrance to any kind of cave system. The only one they thought might be a candidate for a cave entrance was located at the closest point to the mountain Canterlot was built on and they hopped on Twilight's back so she could gallop over. They guided her to the point, which they'd half-truthed a description of being made of a type of magic they recognized from their world. It rested beside a small cut in the mountain. Twilight sent an orb of light inside and confirmed there absolutely was a cave within, so she and Frisk entered cautiously.

❤︎

The alicorn wept through the grime and blisters as her latest attempt at a teleportation spell failed her. The shapeshifter who had stolen her place and fiancee was smart, as she'd sent the alicorn to one of the few teleportation dead zones in Equestria. The alicorn had read about such zones, but this was her first up-close experience with one. It would've been fascinating if she'd had a choice in entering and a way to leave. Suddenly, a faint feminine voice tickled the alicorn's ears as well as a voice of an accent she didn't recognize. She called out in desperation, praying to every deity she could think of that these voices belonged to friendly beings. The noise of a gallop echoed through the caverns, slowly growing louder until it was on the other side of a wall to the alicorn's right.

"Is somepony there?" the alicorn pleaded.

"...Cadance?" the feminine voice gasped. "Is that really you?"

"Twilight?" Cadance replied in equal shock. "It's me! I'm trapped in here!"

"Step back from the wall, I'm gonna try blasting it open!" Twilight warned. Cadance stumbled back as a pink glow coated the wall in the direction Twilight's voice had come from. The glow grew brighter until the wall was radiant with magenta energy before it exploded, dust falling over the area. As the dust cleared, Cadance could make out the purple form of Twilight with a bipedal, lanky form astride her back. "Cadance? I... Are you alright?" Twilight asked, concern filling her eyes.

"Yeah, I... er... how do... how do I know you're really you?" Cadance frowned.

Twilight pondered a question before gesturing for the bipedal creature to get off. She began some very familiar motions and began reciting a familiar rhyme. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybug's awake..."

Cadance joined in elation. "...Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

"It really is you!" Twilight cried happily. "Then... who's pretending to be you up in Canterlot?"

"A shapeshifter," Cadance replied bitterly. "I... didn't catch her name."

"Maybe it's that 'queen' that Swan Song pony talked about, or one of her underlings," Twilight's companion guessed.

"Probably. Uh, but... who are you, exactly?" Cadance asked.

"Oh, Cadance, this is Frisk!" Twilight introduced.

"The human Shining Armor told me about before I was abducted?" Cadance remembered. "It's very nice to meet you."

"It's nice to... actually meet you," Frisk chuckled. "She's definitely the real one, Twilight. Her LOVE is at only two and that's very reasonable."

"Good. I'll explain what that means later," Twilight promised, "but first we need to get out of here. I assume teleportation spells aren't working?"

"This is one of the rare teleportation deadzones," Cadance confirmed. "It's almost interesting, but..."

"You've been trapped here," Frisk finished. "Making it a lot less interesting."

"Yes," Cadance sighed. "How did you find me?"

"Frisk has an ability to sense collected strains of magic of a type from their world and one of them was near the entrance," Twilight explained. "From there it was just a matter of searching the caves until we heard your call."

"Well, if there's an actual exit to the outside, then I guess we should head there," Cadance sighed.

"Hold- wait, that might be... no, I've heard Applejack use it, I think..." Frisk momentarily debated. "Hold your horses, Princess, you're wounded. Eat this," they instructed, pulling a cinnamon bun from thin air that the half-starved Cadance began salivating over. She gobbled it greedily, throwing all sense of manners to the wind, and felt the blisters and scrapes begin receding.

"Wow, that was great!" she beamed. "What was it?"

"It was a cinnamon bun that I think was infused with some kind of healing magic," Frisk replied. "I got them all the time from a shopkeeper back home."

"Thank you, Frisk," Cadance said. "Now, I think that we've got a shapeshifter to bust!"

"Agreed!" Frisk cheered. "Now, you kept track of the route to the exit, right, Twilight?" they asked.

"Um... Was I supposed to do that?" Twilight asked sheepishly.

"Nah, I memorized the route," Frisk giggled. "I just wanted to tease you."

Frisk led the ponies through the caverns, over a small stream, and through a narrow pass until the light of the outside world broke through. Cadance had to take a moment to let her eyes recover from the light difference, but she was ready to explain her case after only a minute or two. Twilight cast a quick spell to find Princess Celestia and teleported to the hallway outside the throne room where the princess sat.

She quickly rapped at the door and a guard opened cautiously. At the sight of the slightly frazzled Twilight and Frisk and the mud-coated Cadance, the guard decided to open all the way and let Princess Celestia deal with the situation. Celestia gazed pleasantly at Twilight before she saw Cadance stumble through.

"...Cadance? What happened to you?" Celestia asked.

"It's a long story," Frisk sighed. "The summary is that Cadance was replaced by a shapeshifter who trapped her in the caves beneath Canterlot and took her place. Twilight and I were suspicious when the 'Princess of Love' was a stuck-up brat so we've been collecting evidence of every time she was out of character to prove her guilt to you."

Celestia cleared her throat and sighed. "Well... that is certainly... interesting. Do you have said evidence?" she asked. Twilight responded by levitating a notepad up to Celestia. The princess flipped through it, a look of concern and shock spreading across her face with every new word she read. "This is very convincing, Twilight... but the pony who... I suppose who has at least been claiming to be Cadance deserves a chance to plead her case."

"I suppose so," Twilight nodded. "Do you know where she is?"

"AUNT CELESTIA!" a shrill voice demanded as Cadance's replacement stormed into the throne room. "I-"

"Ah, there she is!" Frisk announced.

Cadance narrowed her eyes at the shapeshifter. "Aunt Tia and Twilight know what you've done. Who are you?" she demanded, her horn flaring.

Her replacement choked and shot a pleading look at Celestia. "Aunt Celestia, she's obviously the fake! Her magic is blue, not green!"

"Her magic was... always blue?" Twilight replied in confusion.

"Congrats, you've just played yourself," Frisk muttered.

Cadance's replacement gained an enraged eye twitch. "I have had it with your sassy quips, you little brat!" she screamed, her voice distorting. "You want me to reveal myself? FINE!" she cackled at Cadance, emerald light surrounding her body and transforming her into a black, buglike pony with insectoid wings, a dark teal mane and tail, and a crooked horn.

"That was... unexpected," Twilight piped up. "It's usually a lot harder than that in all the books I've read."

Celestia allowed herself a small chuckle before studying the shapeshifter. Suddenly her eyes widened. "I know you!" she realized.

"It's... good to see you after so long, Celestia," the shapeshifter cackled. "How is our dear old mentor?"

"Aunt Tia? What's she talking about?" Cadance asked worriedly.

Celestia sighed. "Twilight, Frisk, Cadance... this is Queen Chrysalis. She and I... have a lot of history together. We, as well as Luna, were students under Starswirl the Bearded."

"What?" Frisk gawked. "That's... not what I expected."

"It's, ah... been a very long time since we last met," Celestia explained somberly.

"A long time since your dear little Celestia left me to die," Chrysalis retorted. "If... my master had not found me..."

"Chrys, what are you-" Celestia began asking before Chrysalis cut her off.

"Do not call me that, Celestia," she warned. "You forfeited the right to call me that long ago. Now... MY CHANGELINGS! BEGIN THE ATTACK!"

"The what?" Celestia demanded, only to be drowned out by the screeches of a thousand entities.

Frisk gazed outside to see a wall of darkness fade into visibility over the defensive spell. They darted out to find Shining Armor, leaving Celestia, Twilight, and Cadance to deal with Chrysalis.

❤︎

"Chrysalis, why are you attacking Equestria?" Celestia pleaded. "It's been centuries since I last saw you!"

Chrysalis guffawed. "My master has been using those centuries to teach me. To train me. My subjects... my dear little Changelings... they must feed on the love of others to survive, and Equestria is chock full of it. It's got more than any other realm I've encountered," she explained. "Once we take Equestria, my subjects will never go hungry again, and my master has promised me freedom from my curse..."

"Curse?" Twilight wondered. "What curse?"

"That is not for you to know, foal," Chrysalis spat. "The invasion has begun already... and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

At the other side of Canterlot, Frisk rushed through the streets until she found Rainbow Dash directing the terrified civilians into a nearby restaurant with the help of a few guards.

"Rainbow! Have you seen Shining Armor?" Frisk asked while helping unstick a pair of fillies from a pothole.

"Not since this morning. Where have you been?" Rainbow asked.

"Finding the real Cadance," Frisk explained briefly. "She's actually pretty nice."

"Huh. So the Princess Cadance we knew was... what, a shapeshifter?" Rainbow guessed during a quick glance at the shield above.

"Spot on," Frisk confirmed.

"Wait, really?" Rainbow asked in awe. "I was just tossing out an answer I thought was cool!"

"Well, guess the universe wanted the cool answer to be the right one," Frisk shrugged.

"That almost never happens," Rainbow sighed dreamily. "I can't believe it!"

"You'd better," Frisk cried, pointing at the skies, "Cause we're about to have to deal with a whole bunch of 'em!"

The shield over Canterlot splintered into myriad pieces as the wave of attackers gave a coordinated strike and began buzzing down into the streets. Frisk cringed as the nearby guards met them with spears and Rainbow covered their eyes with a wing.

"How many of these things are there!?" she exclaimed.

"Too many!" one of the guards cried. "They're too concentrated for us to defend in any meaningful way. We need something to split them up!"

Rainbow gasped. "I've got an idea! Keep Frisk and the civilians safe, and I'll be down in a second!" she ordered before tearing off into the sky. Her mane left a stunning rainbow trail that pursued her course from the ground to cloud level and then with a sharp turn, back down again. A trail of vapor began to mark the front end of the trail that grew its own rainbow as Rainbow continued falling... falling... falling...

The skies exploded with color as a sonic boom rocketed through Canterlot's airspace and Rainbow Dash curved through the air. The resulting shockwave blew anything that wasn't inside or connected to the ground all around and Frisk had to simultaneously cling to a windowsill and dodge flying debris until it finally passed. Rainbow's vibrant trail zipped through Canterlot, sending fallen Changelings flying through the air. She eventually came to a skidding halt by Frisk and shook her mane out.

"So, how was that?" she chuckled.

"Well, you successfully separated them," Frisk decided. "And, uh... a bunch of other stuff."

"Details," Rainbow dismissed.

A nearby guard saluted Rainbow and she returned the gesture with a mildly startled expression. "Thank you, miss. We'll be able to make a lot more headway in our defensive measures now. And, uh... well, if you ever want a spot in the Pegasus Regiment, I'm sure with a display of that kind of aerial skill, they'd welcome you in with open hooves."

Rainbow chuckled a bit as the guard left. "Huh... me... a member of the Pegasus Regiment? That's, like... almost as cool as the Wonderbolts..." she murmured.

"Career dreams later, Skittles," Frisk reminded. "We've gotta find Shining Armor and make sure he's okay."

"What's a Skittles?" Rainbow asked as she let Frisk onto her back.

"They're a rainbow candy from my world," Frisk explained. "Sorta fruity, sorta tangy... but mostly they're just rainbow."

"Sounds tasty," Rainbow mused as she took off through the skies.

"They are," Frisk agreed. "Only better candy in my opinion is M&Ms, which are rainbow candy-covered chocolate bits."

"Well, now I'm hungry," Rainbow pouted. "Stop talking about food."

"Okie," Frisk giggled. "Now, I figure we should check the barracks first?"

"Good idea," Rainbow nodded before veering off to the right to dodge a magic burst from a Changeling.

The pair scoured first the barracks, then the castle's north wing, until their only potential place to find him was his own bedroom. They approached the door to find it locked and Rainbow bucked it off the hinges.

Shining Armor stood motionless within his room, his eyes glazed green and his posture rigid.

"Shining Armor?" Frisk asked hesitantly. "Captain?" they repeated. But nobody answered. "...It's me, it's Frisk," they offered, nudging him slightly.

"Watch is going well, Princess Celestia..." Shining Armor murmured. "Nothing to report..."

"That shapeshifter must have him under some kind of spell," Rainbow muttered. "How are we supposed to break him out?"

Frisk thought a moment until their narrator provided a helpful suggestion.

*This isn't too different than something we've seen before, is it?

Frisk smiled and stuck their hand out. Their gleaming red SOUL flickered at their chest and a rainbow button appeared under their hand.

*You know you can SAVE Shining Armor. You're both DETERMINED to protect your friends and loved ones. You've proved you have the BRAVERY to stand against the most fearsome foes. You wish to exact JUSTICE for and upon all who need it. You're not afraid and always willing to show KINDNESS to anyone who asks for it. Your PATIENCE is always ready to be utilized. You both try to show INTEGRITY when it counts the most. You will PERSEVERE through any hardship.

*Deep within Shining Armor's SOUL, something's resonating...!

The unicorn shuddered and peered up at Frisk's gentle smile. "F...Frisk? What happened?" he groaned, rubbing his temples with a shaking hoof. The green had cleared from his eyes.

"'Cadance' put you under a spell," Frisk explained. "Except it wasn't actually Cadance, it was a shapeshifter called Queen Chrysalis who'd taken her place."

"We came here because your shield broke and we wanted to make sure you were okay," Rainbow added. "I guess we were kind of wrong."

"Oh, sweet mother of- Is the real Cadance okay?" Shining Armor asked quickly.

"She was standing and conscious last time I saw her, but that was a little while ago," Frisk admitted. "I think she's in the throne room with Twilight, Celestia, and, uh... Chrysalis too."

"I've gotta go- gh..." Shining Armor stumbled and clutched his head. "Agh, it hurts. I need to make sure Cadance is alright, but... I don't know if I've got the strength."

"Rainbow and I will check on her," Frisk volunteered. "You should take a nap."

"No, I'm coming with you," Shining Armor insisted. "I'll just need to... walk a bit more slowly than I want."

Frisk sighed. "There's probably not going to be a way to talk you out of this, so... c'mon. Lean on me or Rainbow if you need to."

The pair, now trio, made their way at an agonizingly slow pace through the castle, pausing briefly but frequently to let Shining Armor rest. Suddenly, they came upon a very nervous Changeling pacing in the hallway. It noticed the three and yelped, cowering in fear. Rainbow moved to strike, but Frisk made her pause.

They approached the Changeling with a friendly smile and open hands.

*...Frisk, what are you doing? their narrator asked.

What I do best. Making friends with my enemy, they retorted before looking at the Changeling. "Hey, I'm Frisk. What's your name?"

The Changeling peeked up at Frisk, still trembling. "P-Please don't hurt me, I didn't want to attack the ponies! B-B-But the queen ordered almost all the Changelings t-t-to!"

"Hey, it's okay, I'm not gonna attack you. I just want to know your name," Frisk promised. "Like I said, I'm Frisk."

The Changeling whimpered before squeaking out, "I-I'm Th-Thor-Thorax..."

"You said you didn't want to attack the ponies?" Frisk asked kindly.

"Y-yeah..." Thorax murmured. "The only thing I've ever w-wanted is a f... is a friend..."

*Frisk no-

FRISK. YES. AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME.

"I'll be your friend, if you like," Frisk offered.

"Really?" Thorax asked excitedly.

"Absolutely!" Frisk laughed. "But first... I kinda gotta make sure Queen Chrysalis hasn't committed, like, regicide on Princess Celestia or Princess Cadance."

Thorax sighed. "I'll come with you," he insisted. "I'm tired of being forced to do stuff by the queen."

"Frisk, are you sure this is a good idea?" Rainbow called.

"Nah, but not knowing is what makes it fun," Frisk replied to the dismay of both the Element of Loyalty and their narrator.

After another fifteen or so minutes, the four finally approached the throne room to hear the sounds of struggle. Frisk quickly stormed in to find Twilight unconscious and Cadance and Celestia in a vicious battle with Chrysalis, who was managing to hold her own until she saw Thorax.

"Drone, have you captured these three?" Chrysalis asked with an impressed tone. "Aid me in defeating Celestia and you will find yourself higher than even your brother."

"I... I..." Thorax cringed, looking severely uncomfortable.

"Speak your mind, drone!" Chrysalis ordered.

"I- I didn't capture them!" Thorax yelled. "And I'm not going to help you anymore! Because Frisk offered me friendship, which... it's the only thing I've ever wanted! And the only thing I can't really get in the hive or working for you!"

Twilight gasped from her place on the floor. Shining Armor staggered over to her to make sure she wasn't severely injured and Rainbow went to support her.

Chrysalis's face contorted in rage and she took advantage of Celestia and Cadance's distraction to coat them in green slime. They struggled fiercely, but to no avail. Chrysalis then blasted Thorax and wrapped the largely Frisk in her magic, drawing them close. Frisk's SOUL erupted from their chest until, suddenly, it exploded in pain as a light red aura trickled from their exposed SOUL into Chrysalis’s open mouth. Her eyes bugged out and her forked tongue slipped out of her mouth.

“My, my, you’re so very full... So much love in your heart, and it’s so rich and personal... the best kind,” Chrysalis mumbled as the red aura trickled down her throat despite Frisk’s frantic struggling to escape. "Who is it you love, I wonder?" Chrysalis asked, closing her eyes to concentrate. “Your adoptive parents, sure... other friends, that little purple dragon, those little ponies called the Elements of Harmony, of course... but who’s this?" Chrysalis suddenly asked. Her horn flared green and she drew more strongly. Frisk whimpered as they continued struggling. "Asriel? What might bring you to love this one so secretly and yet deeply?"

This remark sent Frisk’s narrator into a panic. *No. Nonononononononononono-

“Ah. This ‘Asriel’ you love so much is a pathetic child. I would not expect much more from one so small,” Chrysalis chuckled.

Frisk heard the sound of something shattering as their attempts to struggle suddenly proved unfruitful and control of their body was suddenly no longer theirs. Their blue and purple sweater flickered green and yellow and the red of their soul darkened a little. Frisk mouth began speaking words without their input.

“You’ve done a lot of terrible things,” their voice said. Frisk vaguely recognized the tone as their narrator’s and stopped trying to regain control, curious to see what was happening. “You’ve... you’ve invaded Canterlot, kidnapped and replaced Princess Cadence, made everypony doubt Twilight, and maybe... maybe Frisk and I could’ve forgiven all that. But then... you called Asriel ‘pathetic.’” Frisk felt their face twist into an expression of hatred and fury. “You called my brother pathetic.”

Excuse me, WHAT- Frisk demanded. Suddenly their fist was enveloped into a red glow and sent a punch flying into Chrysalis’s jaw, breaking her hold and the stream of red. Frisk’s body staggered to the ground before glaring daggers at Chrysalis, who actually looked afraid.

“Do you know what EXP is, Chrysalis?” their voice asked. Chrysalis shook her head in response. “I didn’t think you would. EXP... it’s an acronym. It stands for ‘execution points.’ It’s... a way of measuring the pain that you've inflicted on others. When you choose to hurt someone, your EXP increases. When you gain enough EXP, your LV... or your LOVE increases. LOVE is another acronym. It stands for... Level of Violence. A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. The more you hurt... or kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself, and the more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The more easily you can bring yourself to continue the cycle of pain,” Frisk’s narrator paraphrased. “And you... well, I doubt Sans would be able to explain how much you probably have,” they chuckled ruefully. The Worn Dagger materialized in their hand and they stepped forward. “I failed Asriel once,” they admitted, “and it lead to his death...”

Chara, Frisk suddenly realized.

Chara nodded softly, and Frisk’s soul grew into a source of light for beyond their chest. “I don’t intend to make that mistake again,” they growled, with a sudden burst of power filling the room and knocking out a few of the guards getting close. The other changelings present took it as a sign to flee.

Chara held the dagger out with a bitter expression and music began to stir. Frisk somewhat recognized the tune as Sans's favorite song “Stronger Than You." Then Chara began singing as they started attacking.

“Ready or not,
I’m coming through.
With the only thing I’ve ever learned from humankind
How to pick a fight,
But at least this time I’m right.
I never wanted Asriel to die,
But now there’s no way back, no matter what I try
So I’ll take my stand,
At least I can protect this land.”

“So come hit me if you really think that you can,
But your power’s ineffective against humans.
Doesn’t matter what you do to me in the end,
Because I’ve already lost my best friend.
And I refuse to let you stain his name,
I will have you know you’ve lost the game
My DETERMINATION’s stronger than your will,
But something’s holding me back even still.”
“But now I must use
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE.”

“Once upon a time,
I fell to the Underground.
At first I was so scared, but
Asriel brought me around.
All I wanted was to help them,
And so I gave up my SOUL,
But my plan was all a failure
And now I’ve lost all control.”

“You’ll never hit us even with your best shot,
Cause I’m giving this fight everything that I’ve got.
I’ll never let you win, don’t you understand?
Your defeat will soon be due to my hand.
You insulted my brother, now you’ll pay the price,
I don’t think that I need to tell you twice.
Wasn’t nice to meet you,
Your ego’s so see-through
Now what are you gonna do?”

“You’ll fall to my
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
And I might atone for my sin.
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
Maybe I don’t have to win
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
I’ve got the friend I’m within
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE,
LO-O-O-O-OVE...”

❤︎

Discord shuddered as an energy spike overwhelmed his senses. He was momentarily terrified of its power, as something that powerful could destroy the planet, but quickly figured out that it was two connected bursts, which was a much less threatening situation. He searched for the sources. He discerned that one in the very far north had already vanished, though near its source was also a tug on the ambient magic of Equestria as something was drawing on it to survive. The other, however, remained, though not quite as powerful as its initial spike, within Canterlot. He frowned, since Fluttershy had told him about a wedding she was helping with, and wanted to check it out just to be sure. He snapped away to view what was happening and found Frisk fighting with Queen Chrysalis in one of the halls. Twilight was mostly unconscious and being tended to by her brother and Rainbow Dash while Celestia and a pink alicorn were trapped in green slime. There were a few changes he noticed about Frisk. Their shirt was green and yellow and their hair seemed redder than he was used to. They and Chrysalis fought fiercely as Discord watched, but Chrysalis got in a lucky hit and Frisk fell back with a cry. Discord narrowed his eyes and snapped in to block Chrysalis’s next attack. The queen recoiled in fear and disgust.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“Protecting my friend, of course!” Discord retorted.

"Protecting your what?" Chrysalis choked out

“Why, of course, dear little Chryssi! You perhaps need to get your hearing checked,” Discord chuckled. “But, yes, Frisk... is my friend. I will protect them, because they made sure I could be happy and keep my nature. And that’s important to me. Now, have at you, changeling!” Discord declared dramatically, pointing his claw at Chrysalis before pausing.

“This situation is an exception to that agreement,” green sweater Frisk confirmed.

“Perfect! Let’s do battle!” Discord guffawed, slinging bolts of magic at a frantically dodging Chrysalis. Eventually he got in a hit and she was suddenly trapped in an incredibly fluffy light pink ball. Her entire body was covered except for her horn, wings, and face. Then, his magic pulsed and every living, conscious Changeling in the city immediately stuffed the end of the hall in a massive pile, and Discord exclaimed, “My finest work yet! I call it the Fluffle Queen and the Buggy Wall!”

“Fantastic work, Discord,” Frisk approved, their sweater slowly changing back to the blue and purple he was used to. Discord noticed, and raised an eyebrow. Frisk shrugged.

“I’ll, uh... explain later,” they sighed. “Let’s get them free,” Frisk suggested, jerking their head at the imprisoned alicorns.

“Yes, please,” the pink alicorn chuckled. Suddenly, Luna came barreling in through the balcony and blasted Celestia’s cocoon open.

“Tia!” Luna cried. “We are so very sorry, art thou alright? I returned as soon as we noticed the shield had been shattered, but I could not seem to teleport in...”

“Luna, I’m fine. Sticky and a bit gross, but otherwise fine. Discord, thank you for aiding us, as well as you, Frisk,” Celestia said, shaking the slime off.

Frisk sighed. “I didn’t really do anything. The whole song and actually fighting Chrysalis thing was all Chara.”

“Who’s Chara?” Twilight asked as she wiped the slime from her hooves.

“Shining Armor, do you remember when I told you about the voice in my head who occasionally gave me helpful advice?” Frisk asked.

“Vaguely,” he nodded, holding a hoof up to his head as the hangover from Chrysalis’s spell over him gave one last touch of mental stress. “Though Chrysalis did not help my memory.”

"Their name is Chara..." Frisk explained. "The shortest version of their story is they fell into the Underground a long time before me and died trying to free the monsters."

"I see," Princess Celestia replied hesitantly. "So how did they, ah... control you, I suppose?"

"Best theory I've got is that when they died a shard of their SOUL remained and attached to mine when I fell," Frisk said. "Then they were filled with enough DETERMINATION to take over my SOUL when the bug pony started dissing their adoptive brother."

"Well, if you're alright with Chara being there, I suppose there's no reason to try... removing them..." Celestia sighed. "Now, what to do abo-"

Chrysalis cut her off by suddenly breaking from Discord's spell and freeing most of the Changelings.

"I swear by the Goddess herself," Chrysalis cackled, "that you will all see me again! And you, little Frisk... Oh, you will feel the worst of my wrath!"

Before anyone could do anything, the Changelings vanished and the remaining Element bearers galloped in. Fluttershy's expression turned to delight once she saw Discord and Frisk gave them all a summary of the events of the day before they went to rest so they could plan the actual wedding.

❤︎

The wedding of the real Cadance and Shining Armor went smoothly as could be. Rainbow managed to orchestrate a clear day and a brilliant Rainboom for the proceedings, Applejack baked the perfect wedding cake, Rarity created appropriate clothing tailored to everyone's needs and interests, Fluttershy's bird choir was in perfect sync and tune, and Pinkie's reception was a blast. Frisk took plenty of pictures to send their friends and family back home, and Frisk, Spike, and the Element bearers returned to Ponyville on the train utterly content.

Arc 2, Part 1: Stirring in the Snow

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In the ice-coated plains of Equus’s Arctic North, few things ever moved other than the snow. It would be suicide for anyone other than a yak to try crossing them without the equivalent of a portable bonfire for warmth, but one creature seemed to be defying this. An observer with a sharp eye might see a flash of color, the slightest hint of yellow, before it sank back into the snow. This continued for a while until searing cyan light poured from the earth, and structures of solid crystal rose from the snow, eventually forming a city and palace that repelled the snow.

The creature peered up at the city towering above it, shivering violently. The creature got up onto its back knees and looked around. Seeing no signs of life, it whimpered and got up onto its feet and pushed deeper into the heart of the city, head darting every way.

Suddenly, a mare sporting a faded, mauve, crystalline coat and mane wearing glasses with a scroll cutie mark emerged from a building. She gazed out in awe and confusion before spotting the creature.

"Ah, are you alright?" she asked, walking over shakily, like she hadn't used her legs in a millennium.

"I don't know," the creature confessed. "I'm so cold... and I'm confused, and I don't know where I am or how I got here..."

"Well, let's get you inside the library, so you'll... at least... be... um..." the mare trailed off before shaking her head. "Oh! Yes! Let's get you inside so you'll be out of the wind and snow," she offered.

"Thank you," the creature sighed with relief as it staggered inside. "Where am I?" it asked once the mare had gotten it situated.

"This is the library of the Crystal Empire," the mare replied.

"I guess you're the librarian?" the creature asked, breathing into its hands to warm them.

"Er... maybe," the mare frowned. "To be honest, I'm not sure that I even work here... I don't even quite remember my name. I think 'Amethyst' was in it?"

"Well, thanks for letting me come in, Ms. Amethyst," the creature murmured after a small sneezing fit.

"You're welcome... er, do you know your name?" Amethyst asked.

"Y-Yeah," the creature said with a nod while wiping the snow off its green and yellow sweater and white fur. "My name is Asriel. Asriel Dreemurr."

❤︎

Strained noises erupted from Discord's mouth as he clutched the side of his head.

"Discord!" Fluttershy cried, rushing to his side. "Are you alright?"

After a moment of recovery, he panted out, "I'm fine, Fluttershy. A magical energy surge just hit and it overwhelmed me. I'm gonna need to cut our party short so I can let Celestia know," he said apologetically.

"Don't worry, Discord," Fluttershy reassured him. "If it was strong enough to cause you visible pain, then you need to go and figure it out. If you want to, we could schedule an extra tea party whenever you have extra time."

Discord nodded quickly and warped out, but his disembodied claw appeared suddenly to grab a classy jet-black bowtie he left behind.

❤︎

Celestia found herself utterly bored with day court.

"Have the nobles always been this stuffy?" she murmured to herself between complaints. From demands of lawsuits over perceived slights, to rage that the damage from the Changeling invasion two days before wasn't totally fixed, to half-baked paranoia that almost everypony was a spy or assassin, if Celestia didn't get a break or distraction soon, she feared that she would go crazy.

That distraction came when Discord entered with a weary expression on his face.

Celestia greeted, "Ah, good afternoon, Discord. I was just about to-"

"Princess Celestia, something big just happened in the north," Discord interrupted. "An enormous magic burst."

"The north?" Celestia asked. "What could... oh."

Discord nodded. "You and I both know there's only one thing that it could be."

"So... the Crystal Empire has returned," Celestia murmured. "And if it has returned... then so has he... I must get a message to Twilight and her friends."

"I will meet them in the north," Discord promised. "After what he did to my sister... I will not stand by again."

"Good luck, Discord," Celestia said. "And... For what it's worth, I've always regretted not being able to save her."

"Thank you, Celestia," Discord replied before vanishing.

❤︎

"Frisk, Spike, Thorax, we need to get the girls as soon as we can!" Twilight called. "The princess just sent us an urgent summons to Canterlot!"

"I'll get Rainbow and Applejack," Frisk volunteered, "Spike can get Rarity and Pinkie, and Thorax can get Fluttershy."

"Sounds like a plan," Thorax, who'd decided to stay with Twilight after the wedding, agreed.

The three darted off to accomplish their task while Twilight prepared notes and a reply to send when Spike returned.

Frisk reached Applejack and Rainbow Dash at Sweet Apple Acres in the middle of a heated competition. They were essentially playing tug-of-war and Frisk decided to let them compete.

"Ah... ain't... losin'!" Applejack muttered through clenched teeth. "Y'all! Are gonna havta! Clean the barn when ya lose!"

Rainbow grunted with exertion. "Hah!" she replied. "More like you'll... have to clean Tank's shell for the next two weeks!"

Frisk cleared their throat to alert the mares when it was obvious their competition wouldn't end very soon. Rainbow was the first to let go and Applejack hooted in joy despite falling over.

"Hah! Ah win! Y'all better get ready to-" Applejack was cut off when Frisk shushed her.

"Twilight needs you two at the library as soon as possible," Frisk explained. "I was gonna let you two hash it out on your own but she said that Princess Celestia sent an urgent summons."

"Thanks for letting us know, Frisk. Race ya to the library, AJ!" Rainbow cried. "I'll even carry Frisk to give you a fighting chance."

Frisk snickered as Applejack rolled her eyes. "Alright, sounds fair," Applejack sighed. "Can Ah have a thirty second head start?"

"Don't push your luck," Rainbow snorted while she let Frisk on. "Now, eat my cloud dust, AJ!" she proclaimed before darting off. Applejack howled in laughter and broke out into a full gallop behind Rainbow. The two zipped through Ponyville, neck and neck for most of the race, but Rainbow managed one tighter turn than Applejack at the end and eked out a win.

"Nice work, Rainbow," Twilight giggled. "Though you were really close, Applejack."

Meanwhile, Thorax was just arriving at Fluttershy's house. He knocked on the door to find Fluttershy trapped in an animal riot.

"Ah, hello, Thorax! I'm having a little trouble with my little furry friends, can you help me out?" Fluttershy asked.

"S-Sure, how can I help?" Thorax asked.

"Well, if you could scare them... just a bit, I mean... then they might be willing to listen," Fluttershy suggested.

"Um... what animal? A bear, maybe?" Thorax asked.

"That would work!" Fluttershy agreed. "Just roar a liiittle quietly."

Thorax shifted into a bear and growled slightly loudly, but when the animals barely reacted he began a roar that slowly grew louder until the animals actually listened. Fluttershy grinned at him and he shifted back and hid while she started lecturing the animals for their behavior. They reacted with appropriate shame and went off into their separate spaces.

"Okay, so what did you need from me?" Fluttershy asked Thorax.

"U-Um, Twilight s-said that Princess Celestia needed all of your friends in Canterlot so s-she sent me, Frisk, and Spike to find you all," Thorax explained. "Frisk went to find Applejack a-and Rainbow Dash and Sp-Spike went to find Rarity and Pinkie P-Pie."

"So does Twilight want us to meet at the library or at the train station?" Fluttershy asked.

"Library, I think," Thorax replied. "At least she didn't say to meet at the train station."

"Alright! Just give me a moment to get my saddlebags in case I need them," Fluttershy hummed.

At the same time that Thorax was leaving with Fluttershy, Spike had just arrived at the Carousel Boutique after wrangling Pinkie Pie from Sugarcube Corner. He knocked on the door only to be dragged in by Rarity and shoved into a holding position for fabrics.

"Oh, it's so good that you came when you did, Spikey-Wikey!" Rarity exclaimed. "I was positively running out of space for these-"

"Rarity," Spike complained, "I came here because Twilight needs you and the girls. Frisk and Thorax went to get Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, and I came for you and Pinkie Pie... and also this is uncomfortable."

"Oh, my apologies!" Rarity cried. "I thought you were just coming because you wanted to help me out, but if Twilight needs my help..."

"Where should I put all this fabric?" Spike groaned.

"Oh, I'll take that off your hooves," Rarity laughed apologetically. "Now, let's get to the library so we can see what Twilight needs!"

When all the Element bearers finally reached the library, Twilight showed them the contents of the letter and had Spike send a quick reply before she led them to the train station.

They managed to catch the new express line and reached Canterlot within two hours. Princess Luna met them at the station and teleported them all to the throne room.

"Hello, everyone," Celestia greeted with a grave expression. "I have a very important task for you all."

"Ooh, what is it?" Rainbow exclaimed gleefully. "An all-powerful supervillain rising to take over the universe? An evil dictator gaining support among the poor ponies? An ancient forgotten empire rising from the grave to take vengeance upon Equestria?"

Frisk sighed. "I've shared too many anime plotlines with her," they muttered.

"The last one... is almost correct," Discord replied. "Ancient forgotten empire, yes, but the empire itself isn't planning any sort of vengeance."

Fluttershy's eyes widened at the sight of Discord. "Oh, is that what made you need to leave our tea party early?"

"Correct," Discord confirmed.

Celestia cleared her throat and continued, "What Discord said, and the empire as a whole isn't planning vengeance on anyone. Their emperor, however..."

"He's called King Sombra," Discord cut in. "He's a unicorn who took over the empire before it was lost, and at first he was... fine enough. From what I remember, he was a bit socially closed off, but otherwise, a decent enough stallion."

Celestia nodded and continued, "I remember him being rather friendly, and he and Luna were... shall we say very close. But... then he began tampering with forces he couldn't control when he realized he was aging more quickly than Luna and... it did not end well for anypony involved."

Discord took over the tale. "Yes, he was taken over by dark magic when he began studying it to achieve alicorn longevity. It was subtle at first... he was just more aggressive, had gained more confidence seemingly overnight... but... as he delved in further it got worse. First he began working his subjects harder, but it eventually fell into outright enslaving them. At his worst point... he..." Discord faltered, emotion contorting his features. "My little sister Eris was visiting the empire at the time to try convincing him to lighten up, and when she pointed out the energies surrounding him, he... he hurt her. He really hurt her, and I wasn't able to save her... turns out a spirit of chaos isn't great at healing magic."

Fluttershy zipped over to Discord to console him while Celestia moved on with the tale. "After... that situation Luna and I went to confront Sombra but he was... beyond saving. His mind was totally twisted by his dark magic and we were forced to do battle with him. We managed to overpower him together, but just when we were about to give him a permanent solution he cast a spell that made the empire disappear. If Luna hadn't been so good with shield spells, we would've been swallowed with it. I never thought I'd see the empire return, but... it has now. But if the empire has returned, then he has returned."

"You need us to stop him before he grows powerful enough to attack Equestria," Twilight summarized.

"Correct," Celestia confirmed. "I know this is a grave task, and I will not ask you to do it alone. I will send a few regiments of the Guard, Cadance and Shining Armor, Discord, and Luna with you all, as well as the Elements of Harmony. I wish I could come with you, but... Equestria needs me here, especially if failure ends up being an option."

"Understood, Princess," Twilight declared after getting nods of confirmation from her friends. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow. I will commission a train to take you to the arctic research lab closest to the Empire's location. Be careful, all of you," Celestia commanded. "Especially you, Discord. I know you need closure, but... Sombra is powerful. And rage, anger, it empowers him. Please don't be afraid to back out if you begin getting too upset."

"I know, Celestia," Discord murmured. "I know hurting him won't bring Eris back, but I can't promise I'll be levelheaded. That's... kind of opposite to my nature. But I promise I'll try."

"That's... probably all that I can get from you," Celestia sighed. "Very well, I will take that. I will see you off tomorrow morning. Luna, I will take care of the moon tonight so you can get some extra rest."

"Thank you, Tia," Luna smiled. "Even the few extra minutes will prove useful, since I can apply a restfulness spell once I'm done monitoring the dream realm."

"May Faust protect you," Celestia murmured.

Author's Notes:

The goat boi has graced us with his presence

Yeah Asriel's my favorite UT character fite me :<

I'm sure some people are gonna wonder HOW he got into Equestria, and since I'm not sure if it'll make it into the story proper, I'll explain here: Frisk and Chara's combined DETERMINATION, which Chara had control of during the battle with Chrysalis, was focused on their shared love for Asriel. That raw burst of power and emotion pulled on the fragments left of the SOUL magic Asriel had absorbed from the thousands of monsters in the Underground and got him through to Equestria, where its powerful ambient magic (and maybe the Tree of Harmony?) supplied his body with the magic content of a SOUL while his entrance near the Crystal Empire filled it with the ability to feel love.

Hope that makes sense, and if it doesn't... I don't really care its my fanfic and I'll do what I want and justify it how I want >:(

Also, thanks for the 105 bookshelves this is on, 43 of which are tracking! It means a ton that over 100 individuals thought this was worth adding

Arc 2, Part 2: The Crystal King

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The next day, Frisk awoke to Thorax snuggled against them as a cat. They chuckled and nudged his sleeping body and he shifted back as he fell out of the bed.

"Agh, sorry, Frisk, I was just lonely!" Thorax whimpered. "I'm... still not used to sleeping alone."

"Hey, it's alright," Frisk promised, giggling. "I like cats!"

"Heh, thanks, Frisk..." Thorax chuckled. "So, we leave for the north today, right?"

"Yep," Frisk sighed. "I can't shake the feeling that we're about to stumble into something bigger than just the return of an empire..."

"Hey, at l-least we'll be facing it t-together!" Thorax proclaimed.

"Sure thing, buddy," Frisk declared. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna change into something warmer."

"See ya at the train station," Thorax called as he slipped out.

An hour later, the entire party had gathered. Frisk was dressed in a sweatshirt and cozy plush pants with a thick red winter coat, while the ponies just wore scarves and earmuffs.

Celestia waved solemnly as the train pulled out while Twilight and the others pulled out of the station.

❤︎

The train ride took until noon, in which time Frisk got to know Luna and Discord as more than just "dreamwalker night princess" and "funny draconequus spirit chaos dude." Rainbow would have napped most of the way if Pinkie didn't keep interrupting her with games and entertainment. Twilight and Cadance busied themselves reading up on the material available on the Crystal Empire, including a royal family tree that was revealed contain a distant ancestor of Cadance's.

"That could be useful," Luna suggested. "The Crystal Ponies may consider Cadance a legitimate heir to the throne and rally to her side, which might prove instrumental in the fight against Sombra."

"Do we really have to fight Sombra?" Frisk murmured, they thought too low for anyone to hear, but Luna caught their words.

"Yes, we do have to fight him, Frisk," she warned sternly. "Didst thou not hear Celestia speak of the crimes he committed?"

Frisk sighed. "Yeah, I heard, but... he was being influenced, or maybe even controlled, by dark magic..."

"That he looked into," Luna barked. "Sombra is irredeemable, despite what your naivete wishes to believe."

"He's only irredeemable if we don't try!" Frisk spat. "Everyone deserves a second chance... to try to be a good person. A world without MERCY... isn't one I want to live in..."

"He killed my sister, Frisk," Discord reasoned. "He enslaved the Crystal Ponies, used dark magic to try achieving immortality, and that's not even close to exhaustive."

"Fine, I won't talk about it anymore," Frisk muttered. "Just... maybe... no, nevermind," they sighed, storming over to the most isolated part of the train and huffing as they sat down.

*Frisk... are you alright?

No, I'm not, Chara, Frisk shot back. And I'm not interested in your thoughts on the matter.

*Heh... well... if you wanna talk, I'm here. And... for what it's worth... I need to thank you.

...For what?

*For being yourself. For... for giving me hope that maybe not every human is automatically a scumbag on account of being human.

...You're welcome, Chara.

Hours later, the train finally chugged into the station and gave the accompanying ponies just enough time to get off before leaving so the engines wouldn't freeze. Luna applied a warming spell to everyone who needed it, which meant all the ponies, Thorax, and Frisk, and led them into the snowstorm. After what felt like an hour of walking but was likely less than half that, the party approached the shining light of the city. Cadance gasped as they passed the crystal gates, her cutie mark shimmering ever so slightly.

"This place is positively splendid!" Rarity cried, gazing around in awe.

"Wow," Frisk breathed. "I... have... no words..."

"You and me both," Thorax murmured.

"Let's get to the castle," Luna ordered. "We need to find out where Sombra is so we can destroy him."

Anger split Frisk's expression. "Or we could make sure the civilians are alright, since they've been in, like, limbo, for like a thousand years, and then we can go on your little revenge mission!" they seethed.

Luna grumbled before sighing. "Very well. I suppose that would be a better course of action. Discord, Miss Rarity, Miss Fluttershy, we'll search the northern and western quarters. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Shining Armor, you four search the eastern quarter. Thorax, Twilight Sparkle, Frisk, Cadance, search the southern quarter. We can split the guards three ways."

"Understood, Princess Luna," everyone sans Frisk replied. They hurried off on their separate ways, going through each alley to search for injured or cursed. Eventually Cadance's team came to a large building with a signpost depicting a book. Light shone in Twilight's eyes.

"A library, or a bookstore maybe!" she squealed happily.

Twilight knocked on the door and a small voice replied, "Coming!"

The door opened up and a furry white biped greeted them. "Uh... howdy! I'm-"

"Asriel?" Frisk interrupted in shock. "You're... you're here! You're alive! You..."

*He's alive he's safe he's a goat he's not a flower he's Asriel my brother he's safe I don't understand...

Frisk, with no lack of encouragement from Chara, leapt forward and embraced Asriel. "H-how?" they asked.

Asriel let out multiple shaky breaths. "H-Howdy, F-Frisk... It's... nice to see you too..."

Cadance cleared her throat politely. "Um... I take it you know each other?" she asked.

Tears of joy trickled down Frisk's face. "Yeah... This is Asriel... Asriel, these are some of my friends from this world," they explained before introducing each pony and the changeling. "There are others, but they're in different parts of the city."

"W-Well, it's really nice to meet you all. Frisk... Frisk saved me a couple months ago, so... well, they mean a lot to me," Asriel explained.

"So I take it you're a monster?" Twilight asked, horn flaring as she began to take notes.

"Y-Yeah? I..." Asriel trailed off when he noticed Twilight taking notes. "Uh..."

"Don't mind her," Frisk laughed. "She's basically Alphys with less lizard except purple."

Asriel snickered. "I see!" he exclaimed. "Well, this is the Crystal Library. There's a pony in here who's probably the librarian but... her memory isn't great and she's... a little confused."

"Well, this entire city, heck, the entire empire has been... nonexistent for the last thousand years or so," Frisk explained. "So... I mean, that's not super unexpected that some or even most of the citizens would be a little dazed."

"Oh, I see," Asriel nodded. "Well, she's really nice and I've been helping her memorize some of the genre locations if purple not-lizard Alphys wants to study."

Twilight allowed a brief look of frustration to pass over her face before the prospect of a new library to study in won over her excitement. She darted in and began striking up a conversation with the librarian while Cadance, Frisk, and Thorax laughed.

"That's the last we'll be seeing of her while we're here," Frisk mused. "Well, I guess we could replace her with you in our search party. We're looking for anyone who can tell us what happened... so far we haven't had much success."

"Sure thing, Frisk," Asriel murmured. "But... I do wonder how you're here."

"I'll tell you what I know while we walk," Frisk promised.

*I can't believe he's here I can't believe he's here my brother's safe my brother's fine Asriel's alive he's not Flowey please tell me this isn't a dream I don't wanna wake up

Frisk's story was interrupted by a spontaneous burst of laughter.

"What is it, Frisk?" Asriel asked.

"Um... so... you know when Chara died, their SOUL kinda shattered?" Frisk replied. Asriel nodded with a confused and upset expression. "So... what I think happened is when Mom buried their body, a piece of their SOUL persisted and stuck to the grave and then attached itself to my SOUL when I fell. In any case, they gained a measure of consciousness and they've been a second voice in my head and a narrator for my journey so far."

"Huh," Asriel mumbled.

"Anyway, they were just kinda... freaking out over the fact that you were still alive and my mind was so overwhelmed by the constant stream of thought that I defaulted to laughter," Frisk explained. "Also, as part of the narrator thing, I know what all your 'God of Hyperdeath' attacks were called."

"Wait, hold on..." Asriel squeaked.

A devilish grin spread on Frisk's face. "Yup," they cackled, "there's Star Blazing, Galacta Blazing, Chaos Buster, Chaos Blaster..."

"Frisk, please stop-" Asriel pleaded.

"...Shocker Breaker I and II, Chaos Saber, and of course, Hyper Goner!" Frisk finished. "Plus whatever those swooshy rainbow comet things were called."

"Friiiiisk," Asriel groaned. "You're worse than Mom ever was when it comes to embarrassing me!"

Cadance and Thorax giggled. Even Chara chuckled from their spot in Frisk's mind, having recovered from their freakout.

"Anyway..." Frisk sighed. "I think Chara's glad you're here. Glad you're safe and alive."

"I'm... I'm really glad they are too," Asriel replied. "Er... as close to 'alive' as they can be considered."

*Can you... tell him I missed him? Chara asked.

"They wanted me to say they missed you," Frisk echoed.

"I missed you too, Chara," Asriel breathed. "Even when I was... him... I think I still missed you somewhere... deep down..."

The group came to the castle at the center and met Shining Armor's group. Frisk introduced Asriel to the four and Pinkie promised to throw him a party when they got back to Ponyville. While they waited for Luna's team to arrive, Frisk decided to take a picture of Asriel to send to Toriel and Asgore.

❤︎

Toriel managed a smile as she watched her class enjoy the bright fall day during their recess. Suddenly, her cell phone buzzed and her smile grew more genuine as she noticed the sender. Despite how much she missed Frisk, the frequent pictures and messages they kept sending eased the pain. When she saw the picture they sent, though, she dropped her phone.

"That's... No, it's not possible... He... He's there?" she gasped. "Asriel... is... alive?"

Asgore called her as she was processing her emotions. She quickly picked her phone back up, wiped off some of the fur and dust its fall had collected, and answered the call.

"Toriel, did you just get a picture of Asriel from Frisk?" he asked.

"I did," she replied. "That's... that's our son... and he's alive?"

"It... truly is a strange world Frisk has found themselves in," Asgore mused. "And yet... perhaps it is a good one, for if Asriel could come back to life..."

"He could come home," Toriel murmured. "And... perhaps... so could Chara..."

"I suppose I will see you later, Toriel... Perhaps we can have Alphys meet us in the CORE and get a proper call going instead of just intermittent texts," Asgore hoped.

"Perhaps..." Toriel murmured.

❤︎

Luna trotted up with a firm, serious look on her face. "'Tis worse than I had feared," she informed them. "Sombra's spell has locked the memories of the past from many of the Crystal Ponies, and I know not the spells to heal their minds." She gazed around the collected group. "Where is Twilight Sparkle?" she asked.

"She found a library," Frisk explained. "And I'd like to introduce everyone who hasn't met him to a close friend and adoptive brother of mine, Asriel Dreemurr."

Asriel waved at the newcomers, who regarded him with intrigued, and in Luna's case slightly suspicious, gazes. Asriel looked like he was forcing himself not to question Discord before Luna cut in.

"Well, the only place Sombra could be is in the castle, so let us go and face him," she ordered.

"And at least try to show him MERCY," Frisk insisted.

"We will not be having this discussion, Dreemurr!" Luna snapped.

"WE ARE!" Frisk yelled back. "I'M NOT GONNA AVOID IT ANY MORE!"

"Why dost thou not understand that Sombra cannot be trusted! He deserves NO MERCY!" Luna screamed, horn sparking.

"OR MAYBE YOU'RE TOO SELFISH TO ADMIT HE DOES!" Frisk replied, rage building up in their eyes. Asriel reached out and clenched their hand, causing them to sigh. "...I worked so hard to prove to Asriel that the world wasn't kill or be killed... and now you're so willing to forge ahead with that mindset... I'm gonna help you find Sombra. Because he does deserve to be held accountable for what he's done. But he also deserves to be given a second chance. To be a good person, if he wants. If he rejects that chance... You know what, even if he rejects it, I'm gonna try again. It took twenty times of telling my mom I wasn't willing to fight her to get her to let me pass. I had to get Undyne to a spot where she was weakened by the environment before I could get her to stop trying to kill me. If Mom hadn't arrived when she did, I would have been forced to fight Dad. But I never let that stop me from loving them. I'll stay DETERMINED. And I won't fight Sombra. No matter what you say, or what anyone tries to make me do," they promised before storming into the castle. Asriel and Thorax shared a look before chasing after Frisk so they wouldn't face Sombra alone.

When they caught up to Frisk, Asriel cried, "Frisk, wait up!"

Frisk sighed. "Neither of you are going to be able to talk me out of this, you know," they warned.

Thorax chuckled. "We know, Frisk. B-But... we don't want you to be alone. We'll help you spare him," he promised. "M-Maybe even redeem him."

Frisk smiled. "You're really good friends," they chuckled, gripping Asriel and Thorax in a hug.

Asriel laughed sadly. "I'm not really," he mumbled. "But... I failed Chara, so this is my way of making it up."

"Alright," Frisk breathed with a look of fierce determination on their face. "Very simple plan. We find Sombra, we talk him down, we show him MERCY. Any questions?"

Thorax raised a hoof.

"Yes, Thorax?" Frisk asked.

"How are we gonna find him, or at least find him before Luna?" Thorax wondered.

"We start at the throne room then work our way to the top, and then to the bottom," Frisk replied.

"Sounds like a plan!" Asriel said with a wide grin.

"L-Let's do it," Thorax said.

The trio slipped through the castle quietly, the only indication of their presences the occasional hushed whisper or footstep. When they arrived at the grandest set of doors they'd so far encountered, Asriel nudged them open to be greeted by a crystal throne, and a coal-black unicorn with a crimson horn posed atop it. His very presence seemed to drain the light from the area around him.

"That... was easier than I expected..." Asriel murmured. "Didn't expect to find him so fast."

"Ah... the child, the prince, and the shapeshifter," the unicorn scoffed haughtily. "You already have heard of my power, and yet you come looking for me? I admire your daring. But your silly notions of 'mercy' will not work on me."

"That's what Undyne believed, but I still managed to spare her," Frisk countered. "And I know we can spare you. I believe you can be a good person, Sombra..."

"Your belief is wrong!" Sombra insisted before spreading the shadow around them, slamming the door shut behind the three coming to face him. "I am the KING! And I will not show mercy!"

A furious pounding along with the noise of a magic blast hit the door behind Frisk but it was no use.

Frisk took a deep breath and stepped forward, holding their arms up defensively. A shining light cut through the darkness in front of them as a SAVE point materialized. They used it, filled with DETERMINATION anew, and faced the King of Shadows. Asriel and Thorax joined Frisk, refusing to let their friend stand alone.

Sombra smirked and blasted dark magic at the three. Asriel and Frisk dodged while Thorax used his magic to construct a hasty shield.

"Sombra, you don't have to do this," Frisk promised. "You can be a good person!"

"You foolish child! Your naivete shall do nothing to aid you!" Sombra cried, slinging another bolt of magic at Frisk and their friends. This time, Asriel summoned Star Blazing to block the attack, startling himself and Frisk with the display of magic.

"It's not naive if it works!" Frisk insisted. "I spared Mom, and Papyrus, and Undyne, and Mettaton, and Dad, and Asriel, and everyone else! I can spare you, too! You don't have to do this!" Frisk cried.

Sombra's expression began to crack, and Frisk, encouraged, stepped forward. "I promise, Sombra. I can help you be a good person. You just have to try..." they pleaded.

Sombra cast a pained look at Frisk and Asriel before a shadow covered his eyes. "The shadow will not be denied," he muttered. "The shadow masters all, is my savior. My dearest will come to me when she sees my power, my commitment..."

"Your dearest..." Frisk murmured. "You mean Luna, don't you?"

Sombra let out a pained gasp at her name. "She was lost to me long ago... her arrogant fool of a sister forbade our love."

"She's right outside," Frisk encouraged. "You can make it up to her if you just try..."

Suddenly, Discord snapped in. "YOU!" he cried at Sombra. "YOUR FILTHY MAGIC KILLED MY SISTER!" he screamed, willing attack after attack at Sombra.

Sombra dodged, weaved, and shielded, but he grew weary fast. Frisk clenched their teeth, used the SAVE point one last time, and then rushed forward and threw themselves in front of Sombra.

"I won't let you kill him, Discord!" they cried. "Killing him won't bring Eris back, and you know that! It'll only hurt more people!"

Discord clenched his paw and claw. "Frisk, get out of the way before I make you."

"You can't, Discord," Frisk promised. "I'm DETERMINED to save Sombra. Whether it's from himself, or from you."

Sombra groaned. "Child, get away. I can handle myself!" he insisted.

"But you can't handle Discord," Frisk reasoned. "Not alone."

"Frisk..." Asriel murmured, "you might need to get out of the way... Discord's mad, and I don't know if even you can talk him down."

"Asriel... I've got this," Frisk reassured before turning back to Discord. "Please... let us talk this out. Let's try pacifism... if just this once..." they pleaded. In Discord's moment of crisis, Frisk reached out and did the one thing they did best- SAVE their friend, and their pseudo-enemy.

The crystalline landscape spread across the horizon. A black unicorn and a pleased draconequus gazed out from the tip of the crystal castle.

"Well, ol' pal, you've done it!" the draconequus cried. "This is the most impressive display of magical prowess I've seen since your marefriend first took control of the moon!"

"Ah, Discord, you flatter me, but Princess Luna is hardly my marefriend," the unicorn insisted. "She's leagues above me."

"Ah, but you're a king!" Discord reminded him.

"But she's functionally immortal. Even if she reciprocated my love for her... I couldn't stand to break her heart like that," the unicorn sighed.

Discord grinned slyly. "Well, what if I knew of spells to fix that?" he suggested.

"Immortality spells?" the unicorn gasped in awe.

"No, not true immortality," Discord replied. "But longevity... that's certainly a much simpler matter. You'd merely have to give up something in exchange."

The unicorn gazed out somberly. "For the chance to be with Luna... I would give up anything."

-Many days later-

"DISCORD!" the unicorn cried, shadows coating his body. "I... I..."

Discord appeared with a mocking grin. "Oh, little Sombra, didn't you know that lengthening your lifespan is always a tradeoff?"

"You!!!" Sombra cried, pained with every effort to move or speak. "You never said I'd have to give my will to do right! Luna hates me now!"

"But I thought you'd give anything for the chance to be with your precious Luna," Discord mocked.

"May the goddess curse you for all time," Sombra muttered. "I must... I must go, before you end up a corpse."

"Good luck with that!" Discord guffawed before disappearing.

Frisk gasped as the present returned to them.

"F-Frisk?" Thorax piped up.

"Discord... What did you do to Sombra?" Frisk asked warily.

"What do you mean, Frisk?" Discord asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean, what kinda jerkface genie moves did you do to Sombra when he was desperate to find a way to stay with Luna?" Frisk replied.

Discord's face grew into a look of extreme discomfort. "Where and when did you hear that?" he deflected nervously.

"Just now, when I used my SAVE ability on you and Sombra... I saw... what I'm guessing was a memory of Sombra pining for Luna and you telling him you knew a way to increase his lifespan," Frisk explained. "And then I saw Sombra being overtaken by a bunch of shadows while you mocked him."

"I remember that!" Sombra cried. "He promised me a chance to be with Luna and then tricked me into exploring dark magic!"

"That's what I gathered," Frisk confirmed.

Discord sighed, "I was a different person then. A worse person."

"I agree that you've changed, and for the better," Frisk replied, "so why won't you give Sombra the chance to do the same, or the benefit of the doubt that maybe he already has?"

"I know he didn't change while the empire was lost," Discord scoffed. "He had no sense of the passing of time."

"How do you know that?" Frisk pressed.

Discord grumbled, "Because I taught him the spell he used to make the Empire vanish..."

"So give him the chance to change now," Frisk insisted. "Or at least let me give it to him."

Discord's eyes glistened with tears as his facade broke.

"...No," he spat. "I need to avenge Eris' death. And... if it means killing you, then... I'm sorry, Frisk. But. If you won't get out of the way... THEN I'LL MAKE YOU!" he cried, shooting lightning from the tips of his clawed hand.

Frisk screamed in terror as their SOUL flickered to life, then shattered.

"FRISK!" Asriel cried, rushing to their body. "No, no, no! Frisk! Come back! ...Stay DETERMINED!"

*But it refused to die. The SOUL persisted on.

Frisk gasped as their SOUL reformed. They coughed furiously as they looked around.

"...Howdy, Asriel..." they murmured.

Discord wavered and drifted over to Frisk.

"Frisk, I..." Discord whimpered. "I'm sorry... I didn't... I thought you were strong enough to take that hit. And I was wrong."

"Ya think?" Asriel muttered spitefully. "Their SOUL actually shattered. If they were any less DETERMINED... I don't wanna think about it."

"H-hey... it's f-fine..." Frisk panted. "I'd still have been able to... you know."

"I actually don't," Discord sighed.

Frisk shook their head. "N...nevermind. I... gh... man, dying... kinda hurts, huh?" they chuckled weakly before using Asriel's support to get to their feet. "So... back to saving Sombra, huh?"

"...Frisk..." Asriel pleaded. "You're not in great shape... what if-"

Sombra finally spoke up, his voice raspy with tears. "You... you don't need to worry about me... You took a fatal blow for me, and managed to defeat death itself. I wouldn't dare attacking anyone with that kind of power no matter my mental state.

"Well, we could test that..." Discord mumbled, earning a pointed glare from Frisk and a murderous hiss from Asriel and Thorax.

"Ha, I don't think so, mother-" Asriel cut off at the direction of Frisk's glare to him. "I... uh. I just... no. Don't do that, because making people go insane is bad. In case you didn't know."

Discord chuckled weakly. "I was joking, of course!"

Frisk coughed and gripped Asriel. "Well... Like I... Like I said. Sombra, heh..."

"I know what you wish to ask," Sombra replied. "And... I want to... I want to be free of... these cursed shadows."

Frisk smiled gently and gazed over at the SAVE point, clutching their locket. Leaning on Asriel, they stepped toward Sombra, who made strained noises as he tried to keep himself from attacking them. Frisk gathered their DETERMINATION, reached out, and shined their SOUL's light on Sombra's.

"Don't worry, Sombra. I'm here... I promise," Frisk murmured as their DETERMINATION seared the shadows from Sombra's SOUL. "I won't give up on you!"

"Frisk..." Asriel squeaked. "Are you sure about this?"

"Almost as sure as I was with you," Frisk promised. "A world without second chances... it's not worth one living in."

Sombra laughed softly as the shadows continued receding. "You're really something special, 'Frisk,'" he mused. "Even if... if I never return to the stallion I was, I'll at least have met you," he sighed as the light of Frisk's SOUL finally eradicated the shadows from King Sombra's own.

The barricade of sealing magic fell away from the door to the throne room as Applejack threw herself against it, busting it open. She rolled out her momentum and reared up defensively. Luna walked in with a shattered expression on her face and gazed at Sombra. "Sombra, I..." she trailed off. "I never knew..."

"I don't expect you to have, Princess," Sombra reassured her as he attempted to catch his balance. "I've never been good at... sharing my thoughts..."

"Heh... sounds like a couple people Frisk and I know," Asriel mumbled weakly.

Frisk nodded, leaning heavily on Asriel for support. "Yeah..." they murmured before collapsing from exhaustion.

"Frisk!" several voices called as their conscious mind faded.

Arc 2, Interlude 1: Dreams of the Fallen

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Frisk staggered to their feet and looked around. A black, formless void surrounded their body.

"Hello?" they murmured. "Is... is anyone there?"

"Greetings, partner," the void replied. A small child dressed in a green sweater and a golden heart locket stepped out from the shadows with a small smile on their face. "It's me, Chara."

"Chara? Where are we?" Frisk asked.

"I'm... not sure," Chara admitted. "You're unconscious, but... I'd guess this is a shared dream of some sort. Or maybe it's your dream and I'm just here because I'm inside your head."

"Maybe Princess Luna would know," Frisk suggested.

"Perhaps," Chara shrugged. "In any case... today was eventful, wasn't it? A lost empire returning, an evil king redeemed... Asriel... alive..."

"In his body, no less, and with at least Star Blazing," Frisk added. "I wonder what other magic he's got from his God of Hyperdeath battle..."

Chara grinned. "I helped him come up with that name and the design... it was a game we'd play in the RUINS. The Angel of Light, fallen from the heavens to save the Absolute God of Hyperdeath..." they remembered wistfully. "But..." they sighed, their expression falling, "that was a long time ago. And... we've both changed so much that... I don't know anymore. It'll never be the same, certainly, since I can only talk to him through you, and... well, we know at least some of what he's done. I... I wish I'd been less shortsided. If I could go back... and fix everything... I'd..." Chara trailed off, tears lining their eyes.

Frisk smiled softly and hugged Chara. "Hey... I get it. How many times did I traverse the Underground before I figured out how to save the monsters?"

Chara sniffled and pondered a moment. "Let's see... The first one, where you killed a few monsters in self defense..."

Frisk chuckled nervously. "I, uh... didn't realize the full nature of reloading at that point. Assumed things would always play out the same way if I died once, no matter how I changed my reactions."

Chara nodded. "The second one, where you managed to spare every monster but couldn't bring yourself to try befriending Undyne..."

"I was scared she'd just kill me when I was at her mercy," Frisk admitted.

"And then, because the universe apparently likes the rule of three, you got to Asriel on your third travel," Chara concluded.

Frisk sighed. "Man. We've done a lot. I wonder what's happening with everyone who's not unconscious."

"I can answer that," Luna's voice called.

Frisk and Chara turned to face Luna and Chara waved softly. "Greetings... I am Chara, Frisk's... narrator, I suppose. I believe they explained our connection at the wedding?"

Luna nodded. "It is good to meet you, Chara. I will explain the affairs of the waking world, if you like."

"Yes, please," Frisk said.

"Here, let's get somewhere more comfortable," Luna offered, flaring her horn. The shapeless void faded into a tranquil forest glade with three chairs resting in the shade. Each inhabitant of the dream took a seat before Luna jumped into her explanation. "After you lost consciousness, Discord and King Sombra began accusing each other until I broke up the debate by informing them it was because of pure fatigue from removing the shadow spell from King Sombra. Which, I must say... that was. Highly impressive. Curses such as that do not remove easily."

"I'm still tired from it, and I'm asleep right now!" Frisk exclaimed. A smirk suddenly crossed their face and they added, "I'm so tired I can hardly tree straight!"

Chara facepalmed and Luna hooted in laughter. After she composed herself, Luna continued her story. "After I had calmed the two, King Sombra dispelled the dark magic repressing the memories of the Crystal Ponies and summoned the Crystal Heart. He gave it to Princess Cadance, who used it to fully heal the Crystal Empire and then put the Heart in its rightful place. King Sombra came out afterwards and gave the rulership of the empire to Cadance and Shining Armor with his sincerest regrets and apologies to the Crystal Ponies. They... well, they weren't totally accepting, but none of them attacked him or ran in terror. I've promised him a place to stay in Canterlot while he tries to atone for what he's done. Discord went to his home realm so that he could process his emotions and grapple with the idea that he's at least partly responsible for the death of his sister. You, Thorax, and Asriel are currently at Miss Fluttershy's home, I believe. Twilight and Spike stayed behind to catalogue the Crystal Empire's history, Spike... far more reluctantly than Twilight," Luna admitted. "I believe that is all, unless you two have any questions."

Frisk shook their head and Chara followed suit. "Nah, I'm just... I'm tired," Frisk replied. "Any way to give me a restful, dreamless sleep?"

"Certainly," Luna replied, flashing her horn briefly. "I will see you soon, Frisk Dreemurr."

"See ya soon, Princess Luna," Frisk murmured as Luna's spell returned them to the shapeless void of sleep.

Arc 2, Part 3: Magic Crash Course

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Frisk blinked awake, in Fluttershy's house as Luna had informed them, with Asriel snoring on the couch and Thorax glaring at the monster prince.

*I forgot how much he snored, Chara commented dryly.

"Mornin', Thorax," Frisk murmured.

"Hey, Frisk... Did you know that Asriel snores? Because he does. So much," Thorax groaned. "I barely got any sleep last night... though... yesterday, uh... didn't help. I was really scared for you, Frisk..."

"Heh, not the first time I've passed out after reversing my own death... Fighting Asriel was. Brutal," Frisk replied, rubbing their sore chest.

"You had to fight him?" Thorax asked.

Frisk nodded. "He, uh... wasn't always Asriel. He was born Asriel, but... then he died. I'm sure you heard Chara's speech toward Chrysalis in Canterlot."

"Oh, yeah... If he died, then how...?" Thorax gazed over at Asriel. "Well, how is he here now?"

Frisk paused, considering the question. "Well... Many years after Asriel died, the Royal Scientist Dr. Alphys was experimenting with human DETERMINATION- the power that let me reverse my death- and injected it into a golden flower. The special thing about that flower was that Asriel's dust, which is what monsters become at death, had fallen on it when he died and basically, the flower came to life, becoming a soulless shell of Asriel with his memories and some of his personality, but... little ability to feel positive emotion. And he also had a really, really dangerous power, the power to RESET time to the moment he woke up. To save at specific points and turn back to them."

"So... he... I'm guessing that he started abusing it?" Thorax asked.

"Yep... Asriel, or rather Flowey, as he began calling himself, began RESETing over and over again, testing every outcome. At first he used it for good, but... eventually he started killing just to see what might happen, and without permanent consequences or a moral compass... he fell into, or at least presented, a 'kill or be killed' mindset," Frisk explained. "Then when I fell, he insisted to himself that I was Chara, his best friend... and began toying with me. Taunted me, tortured me... and then when I faced Dad, he killed him, stole the human SOULs Dad had collected, and became a horrible abomination of plant matter and human parts. Promised that only the first million deaths would hurt, but the SOULs began rebelling against him and I managed to strike him down... but then I was back to before facing Dad and some time shenanigans happened until I went back to Dad, who was stopped from fighting me by Mom, and then Flowey absorbed the human SOULs and the SOULs of almost every monster in the underground, making him basically a god, but I managed to stay determined enough to push through the multiple deaths and save Asriel from... well, himself, I guess... I couldn't guess how Asriel got here, or how he's a monster and not a flower, but... well, I'm just really happy about it."

"Wow..." Thorax chuckled. "Man, you're really strong... if you-"

A sharp ringing noise cut Thorax off. It repeated twice before Frisk found the source. "My phone's ringing?" they realized. "That hasn't happened in... well, since I got here..." They answered the phone with a tentative "Hello... this is Frisk Dreemurr speaking..."

A soft, tearful voice responded, "Hello, my child... It is I, Toriel... your... your mother."

"Mom?" Frisk gasped, waking Asriel. "I... I... It feels so good to hear your voice..." they murmured. "Is Dad there?"

"Yes, Frisk," Asgore answered. "I was, ah, the one who had the idea to have Alphys make a way to properly call you rather than just texts. We were going to call you late yesterday, but Toriel suggested waiting until today as a birthday present."

"Birthday present?" Frisk murmured before they realized how long they'd been in Equestria. "Huh... happy birthday to me, I guess..."

"It's your birthday?" Asriel asked excitedly. "That's great! We-"

"So it really is Asriel," Toriel sobbed on the other end. "Not to detract from finally getting to-"

"C'mon, fluffy boy, your mom wants to talk," Frisk interrupted. "You deserve the phone time more than me."

Asriel spent a full hour on the phone, teary-eyed beyond comprehension. Fluttershy ended up making Asriel a bib out of towels after she woke up and made breakfast for her houseguests. When Frisk eventually got their phone back, Toriel was still unstable and Asgore's very manly sniffles crackled through the receiver.

"I... Frisk... do you know how?" Toriel asked.

"Not really..." Frisk admitted. "We went north to this place called the Crystal Empire and he was just... there..."

"Well... I suppose, regardless of how he got there, he is there, and alive..." Asgore murmured. "I look forward to the day you can come home so we can wrap you in our arms again."

"I look forward to it to," Frisk agreed. "I miss you all... How is everyone doing?"

Frisk could hear Toriel's beaming smile as she replied, "Sans has gone to college to get a... I believe a science degree? It was very surprising to Papyrus and I, certainly..."

Frisk spent another hour hearing about the shenanigans their friends and acquaintances had gotten up to. Mettaton was quickly rising in popularity with each new performance, managing to score a season of a reality TV show from one of the largest human producers in the world. His fame had done a lot to help Napstablook, who'd gotten a track featured on the year's big multicultural album, and Toriel played a short sample of the music for Frisk's enjoyment. Alphys and Undyne had gotten engaged, setting the date for whenever Frisk and Sans returned, and Alphys was busy helping normalize the use of the monsters' magitech. Papyrus had joined the staff at Toriel's school as the "UNDENIABLY COOL COACH PAPYRUS!" and was working to outpace each of the jocks who thought they were cool enough to bully or harass the weaker students.

In return, Frisk shared some of their shenanigans in Equestria, carefully leaving out the more deadly bits, and described their new friends. Asgore expressed his desire to one day meet Fluttershy and Toriel commented on how well Twilight and Alphys would get along as total shameless nerds, and how well Papyrus and Undyne would mesh with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, all of them being good-hearted people with undeniable competitive streaks.

The phone call ended in high, if slightly bittersweet, spirits. The only reason it ended at all was that the connection was beginning to turn to static and Frisk heard Alphys on the other side of the line explaining that the CORE really hadn't been optimized for phone signals and that she'd need to work on it some more before the next phone call. The Dreemurrs said their goodbyes and Frisk set the phone down. They rubbed their eyes and murmured to Fluttershy that they were going for a walk.

Asriel quickly offered to join Frisk and without much to talk about, the two entered a companionable silence rivaled only by the serenity of the clearing housing Fluttershy's cottage. The warm spring sunlight kissed their faces and Asriel began playing with his magic and seeing what he could do. Shocker Breaker and Hyper Goner were inaccessible, but he was free to mess around with Chaos Buster, Chaos Saber, and Star Blazing as much as he wanted. The memory of Star Blazing's use as a shield caused him to wonder if it could have other uses he'd not thought of before, and soon Asriel and Frisk were zipping through the air on the attacks. They had to force themselves to stay quiet so Fluttershy didn't hear and chastise them, but they had a great deal of fun regardless. Eventually they went to lay down on one of the open hills just in view of Fluttershy's house to relax. Frisk suddenly sat up and nudged Asriel.

"What's up, Frisk?" he murmured.

"The sky," Frisk quipped teasingly, "but I wanted to ask if... maybe you'd... teach me how to do magic? Or at least try?"

"I mean, I can certainly try, but why do you ask?" Asriel wondered. "It... just seems kinda sudden."

"The phone call," Frisk explained. "I just... I dunno. Hearing them... I just want something cool to show them when we get back."

"Reasonable motivation!" Asriel decided before hopping up. "Alright, I... guess I'll try teaching you the way Dad taught me."

Frisk beamed eagerly as they hopped up.

"Alright, first you're gonna want to draw out your SOUL," Asriel instructed.

*Huh. This'll be fun, Chara snickered.

❤︎

After some brief mishaps. Frisk had managed to figure out that while they weren't able to pull any magic from within, their SOUL could be used as a conduit for the world's ambient magic, and from there they figured out how to shape that magic into their desired forms. At first they blanked and defaulted to crimson-tinted versions of the weapons they'd seen on their journey- spears, knives, and frying pans, mostly- but eventually, as they got into a groove with pulling the magic through their SOUL, they settled on a short kodachi and a gleaming red shield emblazoned with the Delta Rune. Asriel grinned and brought out the Chaos Sabers before the siblings engaged in a quick spar that was interrupted by Fluttershy's squeal of dismay. Frisk then figured out their main issue with magic- they couldn't figure out how to stop using it. With a sheepish grin, they stuffed the sword behind them and held up the shield with a mumbled "Ta-da!"

*That's. The best you could come up with. Really? Chara snarked.

NOT HELPING, PARTNER! Frisk retorted.

Fluttershy sighed and just shook her head at Frisk while Asriel frantically tried to explain the situation.

All in all, a good morning, though, Frisk commented mentally.

*Can't say I disagree, partner.

Arc 2, Part 4: Harmonic Ascent

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Frisk and Asriel stared down the train tracks as they awaited the train bringing Twilight from her stay at the Crystal Empire. Frisk fidgeted with their hands, summoning a bit of magic to distract themselves.

❤︎

After Fluttershy had thoroughly chewed them out for fighting without letting her know, stoking a kind of fear Frisk hadn't felt since facing the abomination Flowey turned into after stealing the human SOULs, she'd allowed them to continue practicing as long as she or one of the Element bearers could supervise. Rainbow, having watched most of the exchange from her napping spot, instantly offered to watch as soon as Fluttershy didn't want to with stars in her eyes.

*Metaphorical ones, at least.

Fluttershy had agreed, although somewhat reluctantly, and Frisk proved themselves a quick learner under Asriel's admittedly limited tutelage. Eventually Chara suggested that Frisk ask some of the local unicorns for tips on control and uses. Since Twilight was absent, Frisk made do with befriending most of the adult unicorns and getting multiple perspectives on the uses and limits of magic. The four weeks of Twilight's absence had passed with more learning than they'd initially expected without the Element of Magic, and they were particularly excited to show their new skills off to Twilight.

Out of the corner of their eye, Frisk saw a flash of powder blue, but quickly forgot it as the train chugged into the station. Twilight and Spike leaned out the window waving their greetings while the train crawled to a stop. Spike leapt out of the train and embraced Frisk tightly. "It's finally over! Twilight's finished her studies!" he sighed in pure relief.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "We weren't there that long, Spike. I wasn't gonna make you stay while I catalogued everything," she laughed.

"You were still gone for almost a full month," Asriel pointed out. "You even missed Frisk's birthday!"

An expression of alarm crossed Twilight's face. "Wait, we did? I'm so sorry, Frisk!"

"It's alright," Frisk promised. "First of all I hadn't told you it was coming up, and also I... well, I don't actually know if a year in Equestria is longer or shorter than a year on Earth, and also also I forgot it was my birthday, and I only knew because Mom and Dad called me. Also also also it was actually the day after Asriel and Thorax and I got back from-"

Frisk was interrupted by a mass of high-pitched voices screaming "Fun! Fun! Fun!"

The pseudo-sibling group shared a very befuddled look and Asriel took them to the source on Star Blazing, to Frisk and Spike's delight. They were met with a rampaging crowd of Pinkie Pies screaming "Fun" at every nearby pony.

"Alright, who gave the pink horse a clone machine!?" Frisk exclaimed. "Discord, if you're responsible for this-"

"I swear it's not me!" the draconequus's voice cried. "Even if it was, I wouldn't have let it get this far!"

"Understood," Asriel laughed. "Now how the heck do we fix this?"

Frisk smirked and let out a shrill whistle, causing all the Pinkie Pies to look at them except, they noticed, for one. They elected to ignore it for a moment and wrapped their hand in magic. "You ponies want some balloons?" they challenged.

"YEAH!" the Pinkie Pies answered with an earsplitting shout.

Frisk summoned a few of the floaty joys and held them aloft. "Come... and... get 'em!" they cried as they summoned enough to make themselves float fairly quickly. Multiple of the Pinkies attempted to jump and grab the balloons, but the one sitting alone met Frisk's eyes with a worried expression. Suddenly, an idea came to Frisk.

*Frisk, this fall is WAY too high, and there's neither flowers nor soft dirt to break it! Chara protested.

Chara, I think that might be the real Pinkie, and if it is...

*I understand your reasoning, but I still think it's a horrible idea. Being forced to reload under these circumstances would be... well. Falling to one's death is not particularly painless, Chara murmured.

If I'm right... I won't be dying today.

Frisk held their breath, braced themselves for the fall, and dismissed the magic balloons. The lone Pinkie gasped and leapt from her position to grab Frisk, barreling through the stack of clones upset over the loss of their floaty things and splashing into the nearby river with the human...

...Only to reappear completely dry with Frisk on her back from behind a nearby building. Frisk sighed in relief as Asriel and Spike rushed up to them.

"Frisk, what were you THINKING?" Spike demanded.

"I know what you were thinking," Asriel offered, "but why were you doing that?"

"Saw this one sitting alone when I made the balloon call and got the idea she was the real one, wanted to prove it," Frisk breathed.

"What was it like being part of Pinkie's warp thing?" Spike wondered.

"Dunno. One minute I was almost touching the water," Frisk shrugged, "then I blinked and was riding Pinkie as she walked from behind that building."

"Dang it, I wanted to see if anything super unusual happened," Spike mumbled.

"I think I'm done with unusual for a while," Pinkie sighed. "But... what do we do with all the, uh, clones?"

"I might have an idea," Twilight offered hesitantly, gazing at the pile of pink while biting her lip.

❤︎

"Is there really no other option?" Fluttershy murmured.

Twilight sighed. "I don't like it, but the only other option... is killing their essences and sending them back to the Mirror Pool. I might have been comfortable with it once, but... well. Frisk has been quite the influence."

"Can you explain what your idea is again?" Spike pleaded. "In regular words, please? Every other time it's gone further over my head than Rainbow during Winter Wrap Up."

Twilight sighed. "According to the multiverse theory, there are an infinite number of possible timelines. Some of them are very similar, maybe just what would have happened if Rainbow Dash ate barley instead of oats for breakfast on a random day, and some are super different, like if it was Celestia who had to be banished a thousand years ago instead of Nightmare Moon, or if you were a pony and we were dragons. The point is, when Frisk came to Equestria something in the back of my mind told me to capture a sample of the portal energy for later. I haven't figured out how to get Frisk home yet, but I have figured out a limited form. If I can get the help of the Princesses, I should be able to transfer each of the clones to a unique timeline without Pinkie Pie."

"That sounds like a lot of magic," Frisk murmured worriedly. "And really complex. Are you sure you'll be able to do it?"

"I share Frisk's sentiments, darling," Rarity added, sipping her tea. "Even with the help of the Princesses, are you absolutely certain you won't burn out? Do you even know the right spell?"

"No," Twilight admitted. "But it's the only non-murderous option I can think of other than just letting the clones rampage free through Equestria, and frankly that's not an option."

"I'll write them a letter," Spike sighed.

❤︎

"Luna, am I reading this correctly?" Celestia squeaked. Luna couldn't help a slight chuckle at the plainly undignified noise. She turned to the scroll from Twilight with the same disbelief as her sister.

Luna eventually said, "I believe so, but... it is still hard to believe. And yet... I do remember the Mirror Pool. Was it not said drinking a vial of such water would allow one to duplicate their body momentarily?"

"Correct," Celestia agreed, "but according to Twilight these clones were created as early as the last sunset, and they've not disappeared. The true Pinkie Pie, as determined by Frisk, informed them that she walked through the water to duplicate herself... and her clones repeated the process."

Luna whistled and thought a moment. "I imagine that its removal to the Everfree, the span of time it's laid concentrated, and the fact that Pinkie Pie submerged herself instead of merely sipping the water would very possibly extend the life of the clones to a point where they might not die until at least Pinkie has expended her life," she guessed.

"My thoughts exactly. But as for Twilight's request..." Celestia frowned.

Luna shrugged. "Assuming the multiverse theory she speaks of is correct- and I can't help remembering one of Starswirl's feats that proves it- the request is not strictly impossible, but it would take an absurdly enormous amount of power to do it."

"I concur, sister," Celestia chuckled softly. "But... what do we do? You can see that Twilight stated she was very firm in her decision to not use the re-pool spell, and I also can think of no other options to deal with this."

"Perhaps we should go to Ponyville ourselves," Luna suggested. "If nothing else, a differing perspective would allow us to shed some bright on-"

Celestia snickered. "Um, Luna?"

Luna sighed irritably. "How did I mess the expression up this time, sister?" she groaned.

"It's shed some light, not shed some bright."

"Oh, by Faust's crimson mane!" Luna exclaimed in frustration before letting an expletive slip under her breath.

"Lu-naaaa!" Celestia complained in a very teasing tone. "That's not proper language for a princeeeess!"

Luna smirked. "Of course, sister, and how many times, exactly, did Starswirl reprimand you for such language when you couldn't get a spell right?" she retorted

Celestia's face turned red as she tried- and failed- to mentally count the number of times the situation had happened. "...fair point..."

Luna snickered before calling for a pegasus chariot. Celestia dashed off a quick reply to Twilight and rushed after her sister.

❤︎

Twilight strained as her horn blazed with magenta light from the barrier spell she was having to hold to keep all the clones from spilling out and wreaking havoc upon Ponyville and possibly beyond, a job that the clones had made much more difficult by starting a game to see who could launch herself against the barrier hardest. Frisk and Rarity were... attempting to help, but it was clear that they weren't particularly skilled in barrier or shield magic. The best Rarity could do was patch the holes with gemlike constructs and Frisk forced any opportunistic clones back in with their magically summoned shield. Thankfully, Celestia and Luna arrived and reinforced the barrier, giving Twilight a moment to rest her mana.

"Thank you, Princesses," Twilight sighed. "We were having trouble holding them in."

"Well, she was not lying," Luna chuckled weakly. "Still, it is... disconcerting to see. Especially because it is the ever-hyper Pinkie Pie, and... well, and not one of your calmer friends."

"You're tellin' me," Frisk mumbled.

"So... is my idea feasible?" Twilight asked as she massaged the base of her horn. "Or do you have any other ideas?"

Luna sighed and looked to Celestia, who answered, "Well... the idea is technically feasible, but it would require an inordinate amount of power..."

"How much?" Frisk suddenly asked.

"Should we want to keep ourselves from burning out and still have enough magic to change day to night," Celestia explained, "the three of us wouldn't be enough. Cadance and Shining Armor are probably too busy in the Crystal Empire to come down for such a... well, in the grand scheme of nation-running, such a small problem, and... well, there just aren't that many experienced and powerful unicorns in Equestria-"

A boastful laugh interrupted Celestia. "Oh, is that so?" the laugher's voice mocked. "You obviously have not heard of the Grrreat and Powerful Trrrrrrixie!!!"

Twilight put her hoof to her face. "Trixie... unless you've been taking magic lessons since the Ursa Minor, I don't think..." Twilight trailed off as she faced the powder-blue unicorn mare. "Trixie. What are you wearing," she demanded coldly.

"Oh, this?" Trixie scoffed. "Just a little trinket called the Alicorn Amulet."

"What's an Alicorn Amulet?" Frisk asked suddenly.

"What are you?" Trixie countered in surprised disgust.

"I'm a human. Name's Frisk, I'm guessing you're Trixie?" Frisk replied coolly. They could handle an entitled snob if they needed to.

"Ha! I'm no ordinary Trixie, I'm the-" Trixie began proclaiming before Frisk cut her off.

"Yeah, I know, Great and Powerful, whatever, I've met the coolest dude in existence, so this isn't anything new, but you didn't answer my question," Frisk pointed out. "So what's an Alicorn Amulet? I mean I know what an alicorn is, and I know what an amulet is, but... I dunno. Are you feeling happy right now?"

Trixie was taken aback. "Uh... Trixie... supposes she does?"

"Ah, good. Wasn't sure because you seemed a little... blue..." Frisk punned. Trixie's face contorted in rage and her eyes flashed red for a heartbeat.

"Oh, so you're a punny little one?" Trixie spat.

"Trixie... maybe lay off the anger..." Twilight warned. "Maybe don't use magic either?"

"SHUT UP!" Trixie screamed, a ray of crimson light erupting from her horn in Twilight's direction. Twilight easily dodged as Trixie ranted, "You do not get to tell Trixie what to do! Not after what you did to me!"

"...What did she do?" Frisk asked.

"She! She humiliated me! Nopony would even let me in their town after they heard what happened with the Ursa Minor, and they all laughed at me!" Trixie cried, tears of rage streaking her face. "I had to work day and night on a stupid rock farm just to survive!"

"Hey!" Fluttershy protested. "Rock farms are quite lovely places!"

"And rocks are cool. I've met a few," Frisk grinned. "Like Sans's pet rock, Rocky McStoneface, and the rock monsters in the RUINS, and... a couple others I've met..."

Trixie glared. "The point is... It's all Twilight's fault! If she hadn't embarrassed me then I-"

"So this entire thing is a grudge match because Twilight... saved your life? When you didn't want it saved by her? I've already heard the story," Frisk admitted. "And nobody placed... really any blame on you, they just expressed pity that you got so trapped in your own boasting."

Trixie froze. "They didn't blame me?" she said in a small voice. Her reddened eyes grew a stab of pink. "They... But... They were all laughing at me!"

"Were they laughing at you when you failed against the Ursa Minor? Or were they laughing at you at a different time?" Frisk asked calmly, stepping toward Trixie slowly.

Trixie huffed in anger. "I... I don't... remember... I was so certain that they laughed me out of town, but... now I'm... it's so fuzzy..." Trixie's eyes slowly and jaggedly lost their red before her head snapped up and she glared at Frisk, horn sparking and irises nearly crimson. "N-No! No, you're just trying to TRICK ME!" she screamed, her amulet shining bright as her horn. "I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!" she cried, hurling a bolt of rage-fueled magic at Frisk.

Before Frisk could make an attempt to dodge, Twilight cried out and rolled in front of Frisk, raising a shield to absorb the blast. Tears of fury lined her eyes as she sent a blast back at Trixie. Celestia and Luna stood to the side awkwardly, debating quietly if they should join or allow Twilight to handle the situation. Trixie dove to the side and sent another blast at Frisk, which Twilight blocked again. Twilight spat, "Trixie, I don't know what you think you're doing, but let me make one thing clear. You might think you have a grudge with me, and honestly, that's fine. Factually incorrect, but fine. Duel with me all you like. But you do not, under any circumstances..."

Twilight trailed off as the sound of shattering glass noised from a far-off window and a rainbow light came from Canterlot. The Element Bearers hurried forward as their magic jewelry descended from the skies, coated in Twilight's magic glow. They received their necklaces with grins on their faces and Twilight adorned herself in the crown with a solemn, angry expression and lifted off the ground. "Attack. My. FAMILY!" Twilight screamed, collecting a rainbow blast from the Elements and laser-focusing on the Alicorn Amulet before releasing the magic into it. Trixie, bathed in the light, groaned in pain as the Alicorn Amulet was shattered. Twilight's friends descended to ground level but she remained airborne, turning to Pinkie's clones and smiling gently as she wrapped each in magic before gently pushing them through unique portals. When the clones were all gone, Twilight joined her friends as an ethereal voice gently called,

"All of us together,

Together we're friends.

Our souls all united,

Until our world ends..."

Twilight was suddenly encased in gentle white light before vanishing. Celestia smiled and her horn flashed before she too vanished. Frisk bit their lip and walked over to Trixie's groaning body.

❤︎

Twilight opened her eyes with a sharp breath in. The Element of Magic's familiar weight adorned her head, calming her startled nerves slightly. She was surrounded by teal and golden light, floating in a seemingly infinite void. Her hooves suddenly hit solid ground, or this void's equivalent, as a much brighter light flashed to her left, revealing a very pride-filled Celestia.

"Princess!" Twilight murmured, walking over to hug her mentor before gesturing out. "Where are we? What... what happened?"

Celestia smiled gently and nudged Twilight down the suddenly-formed path of light. "This is... well, I've elected to call it the Realm of Tranquility. It's the realm of mana, fueling our world with its ambient magic and serving as a place for very special works of magic."

Twilight gasped and her eyes widened as she looked around. "So... why am I here?" she murmured.

"In spreading Pinkie Pie's clones across the multiverse, you did something very special, Twilight," Celestia intoned. "The last time the walls between dimensions were broken, Cadance entered a pony's heart- as in, the space in the void their soul occupied- and the time before, it was Luna and I, breaching the barriers into the dream realm and this one respectively."

"So... why am I here?" Twilight wondered as student and mentor ambled down the path, a serenely nostalgic expression gracing Celestia's face.

"Twilight... what's the single common thread between Cadance, Luna, and myself?" Celestia murmured.

Twilight pondered the question a moment. Eventually, she guessed, "You all did that whole dimension-traveling thing?"

Celestia giggled. "Well, yes, but other than that," she corrected.

Twilight thought for a few more minutes before replying hesitantly, "You're all princesses?"

Celestia shrugged. "Well, close enough. All three of us are alicorns is the answer I was going for."

Twilight took in this information before her eyes widened. "Wait, does that mean..."

Celestia nodded before taking the lead. Images flashed beside the path, pieces of Twilight's memories. Twilight looked around in wonder as the faintest hint of violin drifted through the realm. She galloped up to her teacher's side as Celestia began to sing softly yet powerfully.

"Twilight, you've come so, so far...

Since your first test you've been my shining star...

And you've conquered all through

Friendship I never knew

You're like my daughter, I'm so unbelievably proud of you

It's time for you to make your mark

With your family, and your friends you're gonna start

To go where you will go,

To see what your heart sees,

To find who you must be,

For it's time for you to create your destiny!"

As the music soared and Celestia finished her singing, Twilight was lifted into the air by magic a shade lighter than her own, her mane flapping in a sudden wind. The magic swirled around her as Celestia gave a reassuring nod and Twilight allowed herself to be taken in by the magic as it exploded around her.

❤︎

Frisk and Spike were alerted from their worried search for Twilight by a light to rival the sun itself spilling from the skies in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark. The pair gasped and raced to the point where it was descending to- in front of the door to the library- as the other Element bearers plus Asriel and Thorax joined them.

When they reached the library, they found Twilight in a graceful pose, eyes serenely closed, shining with light. Frisk flicked their eyes to her sides and noticed a small growth on Twilight's sides. Before they could ask, Twilight opened a pair of beautiful feathered purple wings and opened her eyes.

"H-hey, everypony," she murmured.

"Twilight!" Spike cried, racing up to Twilight and gripping her tightly. "I was so worried!"

Celestia entered with a flash and a smile as the ponies, dragon, human, monster, and changeling bowed to her. "My apologies. It took a bit longer than I thought it would to find her."

Rarity sputtered in awe. "She's... she's an alicorn!"

Celestia chuckled softly. "Indeed she is, and soon a princess should she wish to take the crown," she explained.

Twilight gasped. "M-me? A... a princess? B-but why should I be-"

Frisk laughed. "Technically you already were... maybe a duchess, actually, put my point stands since your brother is married to a princess. This'd just be affirming it!" they reasoned.

"W-well, technically, yes, but... why?" Twilight stammered. "What makes me deserve it?"

"Why wouldn't ya!?" Rainbow encouraged. "You've got a ton of leadership skills, you're really good at making friends when you try, so that's got the diplomacy box checked, you're super smart, and now that you're an alicorn there's no more boxes to tick!"

"Well, I don't really suppose I could add anything to Rainbow Dash's analysis," Celestia mused teasingly. "But I don't want you to feel pressured into doing this..." Celestia trailed off with a sorrowful expression. Frisk heard an unspoken I've already made that mistake in Celestia's tone and from their perspective, Twilight had as well.

"You know what, let's put it to a vote," Twilight suggested. "My friends- and my family- got me this far, and I think the ones here should be the ones to get me further."

Frisk grinned. "All in favor of Twilight becoming Princess Twilight, say 'Aye!'"

The vote was unanimous in favor and Twilight blushed at the noise. Celestia smiled more broadly than Twilight had ever seen her before she asked for the Elements to refurbish them. The ponies nodded and Celestia left them to celebrate, and with Pinkie in charge she knew it would be quite a celebration indeed.

♡

So the mage has ascended, hm? Very... very... interesting. I must contact my friend held by the stars... This will be fun. Rest well, little princess... you will need it in the times ahead.

Author's Notes:

Before you hit the small wall of text below I do have a question: Should I do Equestria Girls? And if so, should I include it in this story or create a separate one for it? I personally can't decide and I figure this is something I should leave to you awesome guys, gals, and enbies ❤︎

So. This... Freaking... Chapter.

I'll be honest, I had this chapter originally done Thursday, but I was proofreading it Friday and just... did not like it. I figured out that I was basically just following canon beat-for-beat and I was super unsatisfied. The first change was based off a question I asked myself when rereading my novelization of "Too Many Pinkie Pies"- why would Frisk, an established believer in not letting other people die even if they've done horrible things, be like "I mean sure" with the re-pool spell (I don't actually know if it has a name that one just sounded cool)- and I figured Frisk's pacifistic ways would've rubbed off on Twilight somehow and from there it was changed bit by bit. First I got the incorporation of the multiverse thing, and then I remembered Trixie and figured "Hey, if Twilight's been gone Trixie probably would have been waiting for her a la Starlight in the Season 5 Finale" and eventually I decided, "Okay, but what if Twilight gets her wings now?"

I struggled for a while (i.e. most of Saturday in my timezone) on how to effectively accomplish this and then was like "Screw it, I'm gonna use Trixie as a laser gun" and the rest just wrote itself, Twilight's princess scene especially. As for the last bit? Well. I won't spoil it for you ;)

Maybe this is lesser quality than the original version but I like it better, so I honestly don't really care. I'm proud of it, and being genuinely proud of my writing is a rare enough occurrence that I won't be changing it.

~~seriously you guys are amazing 130 bookshelves and 53 tracking I love you allllllll~~

Arc 2, Interlude 2: Ceremony

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Rarity smoothed out the wrinkles in Twilight's dress as her friend fretted.

"I'm really having second thoughts," Twilight admitted. "What if I mess it up? What if some sort of evil spirit takes over my mind and makes me a horrible tyrant or worse? I can already tell that my magic is stronger and that doesn't even account for the earth pony and pegasus magic I got when transforming and-"

"Twilight!" Rarity interrupted. "Darling, you will be fine, I promise! You'll have all of us right there for you if you need help. Me, the girls, Spikey, Frisk, Asriel, Thorax, and of course the princesses... Not to mention in a few moments the entirety of Equestria!"

Twilight smiled weakly. "Heh... thanks, Rarity... Um... do I look alright?" she asked, stepping away and turning around slowly.

Rarity's face grew hot to the point she had to wipe sweat off her brow. "W...Why, you've never looked better! Now, ah... go rock the show, darling!" she encouraged before risking a look in the mirror to confirm the bright red color of her cheeks. Twilight did look particularly nice today, Rarity reasoned, and the wings looked so natural on her... That was all, right?

...Right?

Twilight, oblivious to Rarity's inner conflict, opened the doors that would take her down the hall to Celestia. Rarity slipped through a side door, straightening her dress, and trotted off to her place beside the rest of the Element bearers to await Twilight's entrance.

❤︎

Frisk absolutely noticed the look on Rarity's face as she entered the room and made a mental note to tease her about it after the coronation. Spike sighed nervously beside them as he straightened his tuxedo and Frisk offered a reassuring smile as they adjusted their own suit. They flicked their eyes over to Twilight's friends and admired the outfits. They were all perfectly personalized-

Ponyalized? they suddenly asked Chara.

*Eh, that sounds weird, Chara reasoned.

Fair.

The outfits were perfectly personalized to each pony wearing them and complemented the Elements of Harmony displayed on their chests. Frisk gazed out at the attending crowd to quell their boredom, picking out Shining Armor, Twilight's parents, Asriel, a number of nobles, Twilight's Canterlot friends, and a few others Frisk recognized.

Suddenly Celestia cleared her throat.

"Welcome, everyone," she intoned. "We are gathered here today to celebrate a momentous occasion. My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, has done many extraordinary things since she's lived in Ponyville. She even helped reunite me with my sister, Princess Luna. But yesterday, Twilight Sparkle did something very, very special. She used her magic to open a door between dimensions, proving without a doubt that she is ready to be crowned Equestria's newest princess. Fillies and gentlecolts, may I present for the very first time, Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia proclaimed, thrusting a hoof at the doors at the other end of the hall.

The doors opened and Twilight emerged, wings spread out and head held high. A group of ponies trailed behind her and music swelled.

"The Princess Twilight cometh,
Behold, Beho-old!
The Princess here before us,
Behold, behold, beho-old!
Behold, behold, behold, behold
The Princess Twilight cometh!
Behold, behold, behold, behold,
The Princess is,
The Princess is here!"

Twilight walked up onto the platform and turned to face the indoor crowd as Celestia placed the Element of Magic, now formed into a much more regal crown, upon her head. The crown flashed in the sunlight before Twilight strode out onto the balcony past her now fellow princesses. She waved out at the cheering crowd of ponies with a slightly overwhelmed smile. Celestia murmured something to her and Twilight cleared her throat.

She called out, "Almost a year ago, my teacher Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville to learn about friendship, which at the time I didn't care much about. But now? I know that without my friends, I never would have made it this far," Twilight beamed, gesturing for the Elements, Spike, and Frisk to come forward. "Thanks to you all, I consider myself the very luckiest pony in Equestria. Thank you friends, and family, and everypony!"

A huge cheer erupted from the crowd both inside and outside. Frisk hugged Spike tightly and gazed out at the crowd.

❤︎

Twilight sat in the carriage with Spike while the other Element bearers flanked her. Frisk and Asriel drifted nearby on a pair of Asriel's "Star Blazing" attacks with beaming grins. Their joy was infectious, and Twilight began singing out her heart.

"Life in Equestria shimmers!
Life in Equestria shines!
And I know for absolute certain,
That everythi-ing,
Yes, everythi-ing
Yes everything is certainly fi-ine,
It's fine!"

Twilight teleported her circle of friends to a balcony and grinned. "Everything is gonna be just fine!" she laughed, embracing them all.

Crimson Heart

by Starkeeper_Ponyfic

Arc 1, Part 1: Dodging Discord’s Disorderly Delight

Arc 1, Interlude 1: Twilight Sparkle's Preliminary Report on Frisk Dreemurr

Arc 1, Interlude 2: Confirmation (Alternatively, "Look, I'm Okay!")

Arc 1, Part 2: Frisk's Adventures in Ponyville

Arc 1, Part 3: The Magic of Friendship Needs More Friends

Arc 1, Part 4: Frisk's Brush with High Society

Arc 1, Interlude 3: Anticipation

Arc 1, Part 5: Birthday Tensions

Arc 1, Part 6A: A Mystery Afoot, er... Hoof

Arc 1, Part 6B: Love's Undying Power

Arc 2, Part 1: Stirring in the Snow

Arc 2, Part 2: The Crystal King

Arc 2, Interlude 1: Dreams of the Fallen

Arc 2, Part 3: Magic Crash Course

Arc 2, Part 4: Harmonic Ascent

Arc 2, Interlude 2: Ceremony